‘Goonda tax’: Transporters’ tent removed near refinery

Perneet Singh & Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 5

Following media reports about “goonda tax” taking a toll on the work at Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, a tent put up by local transport unions with “political backing” for collecting the tax at the T-point leading to the premises on the Bathinda-Dabwali road was removed today.

Interestingly, top police officials said they had not initiated any action in this regard as they were yet to receive any complaint. This hints at the possibility that the issue was resolved at political level. Contractors engaged with the refinery also confirmed that the situation had improved.

Pleading anonymity, a contractor said, “The administration paid attention to our woes and seems to have reined in the groups that were indulging in unfair practices. The supply of sand and gravel has resumed to some extent today and we hope that the things will return to normal gradually.” The situation had come to such a passé that a company engaged by Engineers India Limited (EIL), which has been entrusted with the work of the petrochemical plant at the refinery, had written a letter to the EIL on Sunday, stating that the construction of a water reservoir had been hit as the raw material stock had exhausted. For the crisis, it clearly blamed the “syndicates that are charging exorbitant rates for the material and transportation charges.”

The company expressed its helplessness, stating it was unable to cope with the situation and was incurring huge financial losses in executing the time-bound project.

Besides the work of the petrochemical plant, the expansion work of HMEL Township had also been affected due to “goonda tax” as the company engaged in the work had also lodged a complaint a couple of months ago. At that time, the police and civil administration had resolved the issue. Supported by some ruling party leaders, the local transporters were allegedly forcing the contractors to either buy construction material from them at exorbitant rates or to hire their trucks for transportation at high rates.

The crisis hit the Bathinda refinery at a time when it is at a crucial stage, as the HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), a joint venture between HPCL and Mittal Energy Investments Pvt Ltd, Singapore, plans to invest around $3 billion in setting up a petrochemical complex here.