Guwahati, May 27 (PTI) The indefinite sit-in by the employees' union of ONGC's Assam Asset completed a week on Tuesday with no immediate solution in sight to solve a slew of demands, including restarting a recruitment process, overtime allowance and regularisation of a section of temporary staff.

The ONGC Purbanchal Employees' Association (OPEA) initially protested by wearing black badges for a few days and then started a sit-in from May 21 at Assam Asset's head office in Nazira of Sivasagar district.

It, however, has not affected the company's operation as of now, the employees' union said.

"Our main focus is to restart the recruitment process. Nowadays, all work is being outsourced to private parties. Our local youths are being deprived of job opportunities due to this decision of the management," OPEA General Secretary Sanjeeb Boruah told PTI.

He alleged that despite having thousands of vacancies, the management has stopped the recruitment process since 2023, severely impacting operations and denying vital employment opportunities to the youths of Assam.

"It is known that in the year 2022, the Executive Committee of the PSU had sanctioned nearly 300 regular posts (unionised category) for ONGC Assam Asset, ONGC Jorhat and ONGC Silchar. But this process was halted due to unknown reasons," Boruah claimed.

As a Maharatna company operating in the state, ONGC has a "greater responsibility towards local employment generation, which is being undermined by this continued inaction", he added.

"After we announced our agitation programmes last month, a team from ONGC headquarters visited Assam and held talks with us on April 29. However, a solution to the impasse could not be found," Boruah said.

When contacted, a senior official of ONGC Assam Asset declined to comment on the development, saying that "it is an internal matter between the union and the management".

Boruah said if the company does not accept their demands, the employees' union will go to the next step of a 'hunger strike', followed by a 'tool-down strike'.

"The union has already served a notice for the hunger strike. We just hope that the management will listen to our legitimate demands before that," he added.

As part of the demands, OPEA has raised issues like the sudden withdrawal of the 3-hour overtime allowance, a practice followed since 1991, from February 2025, "without serving any notice" to the union.

"This sudden and unjustified action has dealt a devastating blow, not only jeopardising the livelihoods of over 1,000 dedicated employees, but also casting a long shadow over the well-being of 1,000 families, including their children and spouses.

"This decision, made without foresight or compassion, will forever mark a painful chapter in the legacy of the Assam Asset — a blemished page in its history, etched with distress, betrayal, and hardship," the union claimed in the notice.

OPEA also demanded the regularisation of tenure-based field operators (TBFO) and paramedical staff, who have served ONGC for over two decades with unwavering commitment, the union said.

"Despite repeated representations, deliberation, and commitment from ONGC Management, their regularisation remains pending. Their continued exclusion from permanent employment reflects poorly on our collective values and undermines the principle of dignity of labour," the union claimed.

"These frontline workers deserve recognition and security, not indefinite contractual uncertainty," it said.

The notice also pointed out that the alleged unavailability of essential PPE items such as safety shoes, coveralls and hand gloves has been a "persistent concern, particularly affecting the safety of the field employees".

"Despite repeated concerns raised by the union, the management has consistently failed to ensure the timely provision of these basic protective items, thereby compromising the personal safety of our frontline workers," the union alleged.

This ongoing issue continues to remain "unresolved, reflecting a serious lapse in compliance and accountability" within the entity", it claimed.

Some other important issues the union has raised are "inordinate delay in the agreed upgradation process of class IV fire personnel, field duty expenditure (FDE) to employees of central workshop (CWS), rising trend of privatisation and outsourcing and discontinuation of certain medical facilities". PTI TR TR BDC

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Sit-in by employees' union of ONGC Assam Asset completes 7 days over nine demands

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