Guwahati:
Assam Petroleum Mazdoor Union today threatened to stop loading and unloading of petroleum products for two days from May 21 in protest against the alleged failure of the state government to provide adequate security to petroleum workers.
Several organisations resorting to protests, bandhs and other forms of agitations targeting petroleum workers with several tankers being set ablaze by the agitators, Union President Munin Mahanta told reporters in Guwahati.
"We had held discussions with the state government in February last on this issue as not only valuable public property is lost but our workers are also at risk," he said.
The state government had assured adequate security and compensation to the workers, particularly the drivers and helpers of the oil tankers but no steps in this regard had been taken so far, Mr Mahanta alleged.
There were two recent incidents of oil tankers being set ablaze in Kokrajhar and Lakhimpur districts and as a consequence, drivers have refused to go to Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts out of fear.
The union has also urged the state government to take immediate steps for payment of compensation to affected workers and proper security of petroleum workers failing which ''we will be left with no other alternative but to stop loading and unloading of petroleum products on May 21 and May 22'', Mr Mahanta added.