THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major relief to the public, the four day-old protest by the oil tankers that crippled majority of the fuel outlets of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in the state was called off on Tuesday evening, following an agreement reached at the conciliatory talks held in the presence of Transport Minister A K Saseendran and Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan.
The IOC officials, on their part, agreed to freeze the controversial tender process, till December 3. It had already been put off twice following the protests.
However the officials said the revision of tender needed approval from the top IOC management.
“Both the parties have agreed that they will consult the government before taking further steps if a deal cannot be thrashed out by December 3,” said Saseendran.
Meanwhile, the fuel shortage experienced at the IOC outlets would ease by Wednesday morning after the Coordination Committee representing workers, transporters and dealers agreed to resume supply. It was the meeting between the Committee and IOC officials that helped to break the deadlock.
Around 760 tankers supplying fuel from Kochi and Kozhikode plants had been on strike from Friday demanding a fare revision from `2.53 to `3.50, which includes a revision of wage. The new tender floated by the company has pegged the base rate at `2.02 and made mandatory provisions such as over fill sensor and digital lock system.
While the IOC officials said a revision in the base rate could push up the fuel costs, the Coordination Committee claimed that they could put an additional burden of `2.60 lakh on the tankers.
“It is a ploy by the IOC to reduce the base rate by putting additional burden on tanker owners,” said Sahadavan, who represented the trade unions.