Paradip: A cease work by contractual workers hit operations at the oil refinery here on Wednesday.

The workers also staged a sit-in to press for their 12-point charter of demands. The refinery authorities tightened security at the complex to avert any breach of peace.

"Armed police were deployed at the site as precaution following violent agitations in the past. However, no untoward incidents occurred during the sit-in," said Abhayachandpur police station inspector-in-charge Chinmoy Rout.

"The refinery has exploited us. The people, who are displaced, lost their homes and agriculture fields, are yet to be rehabilitated. Around 143 families were displaced as the refinery had come up on the land where they once lived. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dedicated the Rs 34,555-crore refinery project to the nation in February 2016," said Paradip-Erasama Industrial Workers' Union leader Bapi Serkhel.

About 10,000 contractual workers, most of whom are skilled, engaged in the Indian Oil Corporation refinery. Majority of them are skilled but paid wages meant for the unskilled labour.

"When the matter of low wage was brought to their notice, the refinery officials shifted the responsibility. They shy away from the matter by saying that it's the lookout of the service provider," said an agitating worker.

The workers are given minimum monthly wages of Rs 18,000.

"The refinery, being a public sector undertaking, follows guidelines to protect the larger interest of workers engaged on contractual payroll. We received complaints of denial of minimum wages. The senior officials of the company are holding talks with representatives of agitating workers. We are hopeful that points of differences would be amicably settled," said the refiner's chief manager (administration and welfare) Manjushree Singh.