Agartala: The Tripura Natural Gas Corporation Limited on Thursday "unconditionally agreed" to raise wages of nearly 250 contractual employees after they went on strike from 6 in the morning demanding higher pay.

The employees were given a lump sum every month, which they claimed was "extremely low" compared to their work. The corporation later unconditionally agreed to all demands of the striking workers and requested them to return to duty and the strike was withdrawn at 4pm.

General secretary of Tripura Prakritik Gas Mazdoor Sangh, Binay Mallik, said the agitation was launched after years of failed negotiations.

"We have demanded a minimum of Rs 15,500 as salary and a proper wage structure instead of lump sum pay apart from benefits given to regular employees. All benefits were sought with retrospective effect from January," Mallik said.

The organisation is an affiliate of the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

The corporation's head of marketing, Joyjeet Choudhury, said they have agreed to all demands of the workers and the average salary was increased by 30 per cent.

"We have just 17 regular employees. Nearly 250 workers were engaged on contract. If all go on indefinite strike, all services at CNG filling stations, piped cooking gas, work at Battala crematorium and many other sectors will come to a standstill," Choudhury said.

Altogether 12,000 autorickshaws run on CNG in Agartala while 35,000 households use piped cooking gas supplied by the corporation. Battala crematorium is also dependent on the gas supply.

Many other areas, including Udaipur in Gomati district and Dharmanagar in North Tripura, also have CNG filling stations.