A protest outside Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) in Surathkal, Mangaluru, ended on Wednesday after company officials accepted a petition seeking the reinstatement of four contract sanitation workers who, according to labour organisations, were removed without prior notice.
The demonstration was led by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and supported by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders and other worker organisations. The protesters said the four women had been working as sanitation staff at the facility for between 10 and 25 years before they were removed abruptly.
The workers were identified as Suvarna Patil, who had worked at the institution for 25 years; Sharanavva Bhajantri and Paravva Ganiger, who had each worked there for 15 years; and Suramma Kollada, who had worked there for 10 years. The report said all four are from Bagalkot district.
The women had been staging a sit-in near the company gate for one month and seven days, with support from CITU and the Nagarika Horata Samiti. CITU Dakshina Kannada district general secretary Sunil Kumar Bajal and CPI(M) district secretary Muneer Katipalla led a delegation to submit a petition seeking their return to work.
According to the report, the delegation was not allowed inside the HPCL office and company officials did not initially come to receive the petition. In protest, the labour leaders and the affected workers blocked the road outside the facility and continued their demonstration for about three hours under the hot sun.
Surathkal police reached the location and attempted to persuade the protesters to withdraw the road blockade. At around 1pm, HPCL officials came to the site and accepted the petition, after which the protest was called off. The report did not include a statement from HPCL explaining the workers’ removal or confirming whether they would be reinstated.
The dispute has placed contract sanitation workers at a major industrial facility at the centre of a labour action involving road access and company operations. The organisations supporting the workers said the women should be taken back into employment and sought a resolution to the issue.
The protesters have warned that they will launch an indefinite sit-in near the HPCL office with the support of various organisations if the four women are not reinstated within seven days. The next step in the dispute is therefore expected to depend on the company’s response to the petition within that period.
DYFI leaders Srinath Kulal and Azal Kana, CITU leader Yogish Jappinamogaru and others also took part in the protest.
