New Delhi: The strike by workers of state-owned oil firms Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to oppose privatisation of the cash-rich refiners on March 27 entered the third day, even as reports of splinter unions returning to work in Southern region trickled in.

"All refinery and plant operations are normal and petroleum product supplies unaffected," official sources said.

A BPCL spokesperson said 40 to 50 per cent of its unionised staff was back for work, while HPCL officials said 15-20 per cent of the unionised staff had joined work.

"Various High Courts restraining workers from going on strike has had its effect," they said.

Management staff (officers) of the two public sector units (PSUs) were filling in for workers at marketing and operation points.

However, there were reports of disruption in product supplies from a few places in West Bengal, where certain Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) unions too have joined the stir.

Many of the small oil stations in Kolkata were running out of fuel following no supply for the past two days.

Pumps of Indian Oil, whose employees had gone on a one-day token strike on March 26, were, however, running with full capacity. Of the over 220 pumps in the metropolis, 67 are operated by the IOC.

IOC sources say they were ready to supply fuel to HP and BP-operated pumps if approached by their authorities.

"By and large the two companies, HPCL and BPCL, which feed 40 per cent of the market, were functioning normally," sources said.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions, which is spearheading the agitation, claimed that 90 per cent of close to 16,000 unionised staff in HPCL and BPCL had heeded to the strike call.

The two companies maintained that many of the 26 unions who had given strike notice had returned to work.

Sources said the stocks at petrol stations and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) godowns, which were toped up on March 23 and 24, were sufficient to meet March 27 supplies, the last day of the agitation.

PTI