IOCL Bongaigaon workers up in arms demanding reinstatement & wage payments

Chirang, Oct 18: Workers at Indian Oil Corporation Limited's Bongaigaon refinery staged a protest on Friday against a number of grievances they harboured against the management and authorities. 

The Workers’ Coordination Committee, in collaboration with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) organised a 7-hour sit-in in front of the main entrance of the Bongaigaon refinery at Dhaligaon in Chirang.

Reportedly, a contractor Sahidul Islam after receiving a tender for maintenance of the refinery, dismissed the labourers who were working there.

Following their dismissal from work, they initiated a protest demanding the reinstatement of 12 refinery workers who were dismissed.

“Sahidul Islam recently received a tender, following which 12 workers were dismissed from their work. For all those 12 displaced workers, we have had discussions with the Labour Commission and other higher authorities but they didn't pay any heed to our concern,” said Dilip Ray, Secretary, Bongaigaon Refinery United Workers Co-ordination Committee (BGRUWCC).

The workers also expressed their ire against the authorities for not having received wages for the work they had done in the Bongaigaon refinery township.

Notably, the Bongaigaon refinery township houses the employees of the refinery and the workers are often employed for the upkeep and maintenance of the township.

According to the protestors, they had to resort to sit-ins following the repeated ‘indifference’ of the management and authorities.

“We were told by the authorities that our grievances will be addressed by September 30, but no heed was paid. We wrote them a letter on October 4, seeking immediate resolution to our problem,” Ray said.

Ray further mentioned that the protestors had recently approached the authorities on October 14, but complained that no attention were given to their concerns. 

“If within the next couple of days, our grievances are not addressed, we will continue with our protests. On October 23, we have organised an 8-hour protest and on October 28-29, we have organised a strike for 36 hours in which we would not be working. We will only lift our protests after our demands are met,” Ray said.

Meanwhile, the refinery issued the following clarification on the matter: