GEECL Says Its Asansol Unit Gheraoed Since Saturday, Staffers Stuck Inside

London-listed coal-bed methane producer Great Eastern Energy Corp (GEECL) on Monday said that its gas gathering station in West Bengal's Asansol is under gherao for the last two days and staffers are stuck inside. It is the third instance of gherao at the station in the last 43 days, it said.

The company has also temporarily shut CNG supply that could hit the movement of vehicles in the Durgapur-Asansol region, it said. Twenty-nine third-party security men were retrenched on disciplinary grounds, resulting in the agitation by the affected locals, company officials said.

"A group of miscreants have again done a gherao from the morning of October 17 and stopped the workers and staff from both entering and leaving the gas station," GEECL said in a statement. "It has been over two days with no end in sight and our people are stuck in a distress situation inside the premises," it said.

The "miscreants" are putting women at the forefront and creating the disturbance, it added.