As elections approach ONGC spares GSPC staff
Hundreds of GSPC employees working on the offshore Deen Dayal project have been spared from losing their jobs after the BJP government, with an eye on upcoming state elections in December, put pressure on the field's new owner ONGC.
This month (October) the ONGC and GSPC human resources departments held a series of meetings that resulted in a 'secondment contract' allowing 173 employees to retain their jobs under instructions from Delhi and Gandhinagar. This was despite earlier fears they would be forced out after ONGC acquired GSPC's 80% stake at Deen Dayal, which sits in shallow water NELP-III block KG-OSN-2001/3.
Under the two-year secondment contract full-time and contract employees based at Kakinada and Gandhinagar can rest easy in their jobs until 2019. About half the 110 contract workers are yet to sign the new contracts, fearing what will happen after two years.
"They want ONGC to absorb them as employees," we hear. These workers have also sent letters with their concerns to ONGC chairman Shashi Shanker and GSPC joint managing director T.
Natarajan. Employees who accepted the new terms reported for duty at Kakinada on October 9.
When contacted a senior GSPC source praises ONGC for its wise decision. "Deen Dayal is a complex HP/HT block," he says.
"You can't just remove the people who know everything about it."
