Work at BPCL refinery on schedule

Work in progress on the expansion project at BPCL's Kochi refinery. The project will be commissioned in April 2016. —Photo: Vipin Chandran

The Rs. 20,000-crore integrated refinery expansion work at Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s Kochi refinery is well on schedule, with the project nearing 70 per cent of its targeted progress.

Though the physical progress of the project is a tad below the internal target, it would be no problem for meeting the April 2016 target, said the executive director of the refinery Prasad K. Panicker here at a press conference here on Monday.

He said that the whole of Kerala need to be supplied with Bharat Stage IV fuel by April 2016 and that the target would be met.

The refinery capacity is being increased by about 60 per cent from the current 9.5 million tonnes a year to 15.5 million tonnes.

He was speaking to reporters after the meeting of the Industrial Relations Committee. The meeting on Monday was convened to ensure higher productivity and to introduce more safety measures.

As part of the efforts to increase the pace of the work, it was decided at Monday’s meeting to spread the works over 24 hours through seven days a week. The two shifts will operate between 8 a. m. and 8 p.m. and between 8 p.m. and 8 a. m.

State president of the INTUC R. Chandrashekharan and CITU state secretary K. Chandran Pillai, who represented the labour unions at the meeting, said during the press conference that arrangements would be made for the workers to commute as two shifts were being introduced.

The labour leaders also said that the labourers will be paid equally for equal work and that there would be no discrimination between migrant and local workers. Around 9,000 of the workers at the site are from outside the State. On an average, 15,000 to 16,000 workers would be deployed daily.

Assistant Labour Commissioner Eugene Gomez said that the IRC was constituted in July 2013 and the Committee ensured that there were no problems or stoppage of work since the project was launched in November 2013.

Labour relations

Meanwhile, trade union leaders attending a meeting of Industrial Relations Committee on Monday said that labour relations at Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s Kochi refinery expansion worksite is a model for the entire country. Trade union leaders also praised the safety record at the worksite and lauded the management and labourers for taking extreme care in avoiding accidents.