BPCL Employees Cry Foul Over Discrimination in VRS Offered

A week before of the closure of bid submissions for Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) stake, the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) has offered a Voluntary Retirement Scheme to its employees.

The last date for submitting the expressions of interest (EoIs) for the 52.98 per cent BPCL stake is July 31.

The Voluntary Retirement Scheme – 2020 (BPVRS-2020) for BPCL employees opened on July 23 and will close on August 13. Employees above 45 years of age are eligible for the VRS.

Those opting for the VRS would either receive a compensation payment equivalent to two months’ salary for each completed year of service, or the monthly salary at the time of voluntary retirement multiplied by the months of service left before retirement, whichever is less.

Employees have questioned the terms of the offered VRS. They have questioned the logic behind the offer only to those who have attained the age of 45 and anyone, who is below this age bracket will not be considered for the VRS Scheme. Further, sportspersons who got jobs on their playing abilities, have been kept out of this. Various sports persons who have represented India in the past or are still playing different sports for the country, ask that was it a crime to represent India in various international championships!

Speaking to www.indianpsu.com on conditions of anonymity, an international player now working for BPCL said “sadly enough, no one in the organisation or government of India, thought anything about the future of players who represented India and brought laurels for BPCL in domestic tournaments. Where will we go from here?”

The BPCL disinvestment has received interest from several large global oil and gas firms as well as a few Indian entities. The process, so far, has generated around 100 enquiries, indicating that investors are interested in the Maharatna PSU despite the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to official sources privy to the development. All Indian PSUs have been barred from taking part in the process.

Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Rosneft of Russia and Exxon Mobil are some big players said to be interested in participating in this bidding process. Indian major Reliance Industries also said to be keen in this deal.

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