Haldia expansion plan hit by workers' strike

Work on the Rs 1,230-crore expansion project of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), among the country’s largest naptha-based petrochemical facilities, came to a grinding halt after a Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU)-backed union called an indefinite strike over wage revision of contractual workers.

“There were proceedings for settlement of the charter of demands (CoD) between HPL and the HPL Contractors’ Workers Union yesterday in the presence of the additional labour commissioner. During the talks, the union served the strike notice. The strike has started since this morning and the ongoing work for implementation of Project Supermax has come to a halt at the moment,” HPL said.

Project Supramax, which is already running behind schedule by over two years, is expected to raise the plant’s capacity from 5.2 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) to about 6.7 tpa. The delay has already seen the cost of the project rise from the earlier estimate of Rs 675 crore to Rs 1,230 crore.

HPL sources said if the strike continued, it was likely to have a telling effect on the execution of the project, which involves over 1,100 workers, including some from overseas.

“Discussions have been on since June this year and a verbal agreement was reached between the contractors, the union and the management on November 2. Yesterday, the assistant labour commissioner prepared a CoD after consultations with all parties, but the management did not sign on it. We had no other option but to go on strike,” HPL Servicing & Maintenance Contractors’ Workers Union Secretary Debashis Maity said.