Golaghat, Oct. 25: The Numaligarh Oil Refinery Tanker Association, along with the Haldia Surface Vehicle Owners and Welfare Association and Haldia Tankers Welfare Association, has called for a series of agitation from tomorrow.

The protest has been called against the proposal of the refinery to use trains as a mode of transportation to carry petroleum products from Haldia in West Bengal to the refinery in Golaghat district.

A five-hour sit-in will be staged by the association at the main gate of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) from 8am, followed by burning an effigy of managing director P. Padmanabhan on Tuesday and an indefinite blockade of the marketing terminal from Wednesday onwards.

These will be simultaneously observed at the loading point of the refinery in Haldia.

"The NRL is liable to create indirect employment opportunities for the unemployed youths of the locality. However, we have recently came to know that its management is planning to transport alkaloid, a chemical compound, by train from Haldia in Bengal instead of using our tank trucks," alleged Bhaskar Jyoti Gohain, the joint general secretary of the association.

He alleged that the refinery had already started to stock reformate, another chemical compound, in the Patikhali area of Haldia from where it would be transported via railway, and the tankers as a mode of transportation would become a thing of the past.

"Such an endeavour of the refinery, endangering the livelihood of nearly 700 families, cannot be tolerated and we want to send a strong message to the NRL authorities that we will protest this with ultimate sacrifice if needed," Gohain added.

The senior manager of NRL public relations, Mintu Handique, said the refinery would maintain the status quo of the tankers that were currently running, including those allotted under the social obligation category scheme, and would do nothing to jeopardise the livelihood of the families.

As far as transportation of reformate is concerned, the refinery management had not taken any formal decision about changing the mode of transportation, he added.

Since the beginning of commercial production, the refinery has been continuously allotting a number of tank trucks to transport its various products under the social obligation category and also by inviting tenders for road transport of reformate.

Sources said the strike would hamper the operation of the refinery to a great extent, as the marketing terminal stores a variety of refined products for redistribution and is considered to be the most vital part of the petroleum distribution network.