Ever since reports of the possible privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) started doing the rounds, the employees at its Kochi Refinery, the largest public sector refinery in the country, started to voice their opposition against the move. Now, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stating two days ago that BPCL will be sold to a private entity by March 2020, the employees are up in arms and are coordinating with the workers of various plants and refineries of the company across the country to undertake a nationwide strike on November 28.
With four refineries at Mumbai, Kochi, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Numaligarh in Assam, and other associated petrol-diesel retail outlets, LPG distribution centres and LPG bottling plants, BPCL houses a total of about 12,000 permanent employees and thousands of contract staff. In Kerala alone, at the BPCL Refinery in Kochi, there are around 2,500 permanent staff and about 6,000 contract employees in addition to thousands of people employed in various projects of the refinery.
According to reports, the Union government has stated that selling off BPCL along with Air India is expected to raise Rs one lakh crore for the government. While Air India has become a loss-making entity, the privatisation of BPCL which is at a commendable profit, has made the employees apprehensive about the move.
Though there are various factors that employees cite as the reason for the company not to be privatised, apprehension about possible layoffs when BPCL is sold out to a private company, is one of their major concerns.
“If a foreign or multinational company takes over BPCL, the major problem which will affect thousands of employees is the possible loss of jobs. The refineries of BPCL including the one in Kochi, are made of up multiple units. Multinational oil companies, when they take over BPCL, are not aiming to increase their production because they have stock that is more than the requirement. What they are actually aiming at is a market opening in India. So there are high chances that multiple units of the refineries will be shut down to just single units. This will pave the way for loss of jobs for thousands of people across the country,” Naseemudheen SK, representing the Refineries Employees Union, tells TNM.
In addition to the possible termination, employees also fear that with privatisation, there will no longer be new recruitments. “In the case of Kerala, BPCL’s Kochi Refinery is the only public sector institution which is still actively recruiting people. All the other public sector companies of Kerala including Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) and HMT Limited, are going through a dormant phase in recruitments. Privatising BPCL will also affect job opportunities for our youth,” tells Praveen Kumar P, general secretary of Cochin Refineries Employees Association.
Another concern of privatisation is the future of the proposed or ongoing projects of BPCL. This in fact is a major apprehension for the respective state governments as well. In the case of Kerala, the state government has 5% stake in Kochi Refinery. The government recently proposed to set up a petrochemical park adjacent to the Refinery on the assurance that feedstock from it will be made available to the petrochemical park. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter last month to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern at the Rs 25,000 crore investment in the petrochemical park, which will become uncertain with privatisation of BPCL. The Chief Minister also expressed concern about the future of corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes of BPCL.
BPCL had a net profit of Rs 7,802.30 crore in the year 2018-19. The company’s total CSR share for the year was Rs 177.94 crore. In Kerala alone, BPCL has spent a total of Rs 24.75 crore in various CSR initiatives with Rs 12.16 crore in education sector alone.
The employees are hoping to turn the protest against privatisation of BPCL into a people’s movement. “It is not just our jobs, this is also a matter of social justice. With the company being privatised, it will also take a toll on distribution of posts through reservation. So it is important that people stand together against the privatisation of BPCL regardless of their political affiliations,” said Praveen Kumar.
Ramesh Chennithala, Opposition Leader of Kerala, will lead a long march protesting against privatisation of BPCL from Pettah to Ambalamugal in Kochi on November 25. The CPI(M) is also forming a human chain in Kochi against BPCL privatisation on November 22.
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