ONGC staff withdraw strike

Officers of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation have withdrawn their proposed two-day strike from Thursday after the company chairman R S Sharma appealed to them not to affect production.

The Association of Scientific and Technical Officers had given a 48-hour a strike call from 6 am on Thursday against the government decision of not confirming appointment of Sharma as the company chairman despite getting clearance from all necessary authorities including anti-corruption CVC and CBI.

"Sharma had made a personal appeal to us not to disrupt company operations. Respecting his sentiments, we have decided not to go ahead with the proposed strike," said Sanjay Goel, president of Central Working Committee of ASTO, that represents 23,000 officers out of the 38,000

ONGC workforce.

The strike could have crippled oil and gas production at the country's largest energy producer and affected fuel supplies. ONGC produces 80 per cent of the nation's oil and gas.

While the ONGC workforce condemned the irrational, arbitrary and high-handed decision of the Government, they have decided not to go on strike, Goel said.

Government had on February 6 scrapped the August 30 recommendation of its own agency PESB that selected Sharma for the top job, saying the selection process was inadequate and wanted private sector candidates to apply for the top job. Interestingly, the current procedure does not bar private sector candidates from applying.