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New Delhi: The recognised unions of Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Pipelines Division have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, warning that the company’s proposed “Synergy System” restructuring could undermine safety, dilute technical expertise and weaken India’s energy security.
In the letter dated January 5, addressed to the Prime Minister, the unions said they were submitting their representation affirming their “unwavering commitment to the safety, integrity, and progress” of the nation and in a “patriotic spirit” towards the concerns in the Pipelines of Indian Oil.
The unions underlined the scale and sensitivity of IOC’s pipeline operations, noting that the company operates “over 20,000 kms of petroleum product pipelines and 7,000 km of CGD gas pipelines, forming a total network of more than 27,000 km traversing 12,500 villages across the country.”
They said the Pipelines Division has ensured “safe and reliable operations despite facing innumerable incidents of pipeline pilferage attempts annually” and handles “unmatched distribution pipeline infrastructure containing high-pressure hydrocarbon pipelines.”
The unions said the IOC management has proposed a Synergy System restructuring that includes “merging 40 Indian Oil pipeline locations into marketing locations”, “merging all pipeline operations with marketing functions,” and relocating the Pipelines Division headquarters “from Barauni to Patna (in Bihar) and from Mourigram (Kolkata) to Durgapur (in West Bengal.”
They argued that the restructuring would weaken specialised oversight, stating that the Pipelines Division “is hardly 10 percent of the total strength of around 35,000 at Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.” Referring to GAIL, the unions said that the PSU has only 10,000 km of pipelines and yet has a full board with five functional directors and five independent directors headed by a Chairman and Managing Director (CMD).
“This will destroy the Pipeline technical expertise earned over last six decades,” the letter said, adding that mixing of Pipelines operations with Marketing “is extremely risky and certainly undermines safety, security and efficiency of operations.”
The unions also flagged the prolonged vacancy of the Director (Pipelines) post, saying the position “has remained vacant for over five months, even though qualified candidates have already been shortlisted and PESB has announced the date for interviews as well.”
The letter warns that diluting pipeline expertise could weaken emergency response and expose communities to major risks, stating that the restructuring could “dilute energy sector technical expertise, weaken emergency response capability, and compromise safety standards.”
It added that a single incident could have “dire and irreversible consequences”, including “fires, explosions and environmental damage”, while asserting that “the Indian Oil Pipelines Division embodies decades of institutional expertise and patriotic service to the nation.”
The unions urged the Prime Minister to intervene, requesting that the government “expedite the appointment of a Director (Indian Oil Pipelines Division)”, “ensure that the so-called Synergy System restructuring in the Indian Oil Pipelines Division is not implemented”, and ensure the division “remains unchanged at its present location, thereby avoiding unnecessary expenditure and safeguarding operational efficiency.”
The letter from the Pipelines Division unions comes amid a broader restructuring exercise underway at Indian Oil Corporation, which has triggered concern across sections of the company’s officer cadre.
PSU Watch had earlier reported that the government was weighing a major board-level overhaul at Indian Oil, including a proposal to eliminate up to three director-level positions as part of a wider restructuring of functional verticals. The review was examining whether certain independent business segments should continue to have standalone board-level representation or be merged with other functions to achieve what officials described as organisational “synergies.”
PSU Watch had also reported that Indian Oil’s proposed “Synergy System” restructuring — which envisages closer integration of the Pipelines Division with the marketing function — had sparked alarm among officers’ unions.
The restructuring proposal has been under discussion even as the Director (Pipelines) position at Indian Oil remains vacant, fuelling apprehensions within the Pipelines Division that the role itself could be abolished or subsumed as part of the reorganisation.
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