Separate subsidiary of ONGC’s Assam Asset opposed

Top Assamese officials acting as catalyst to create separate subsidiary

From our Correspondent

SIVASAGAR, Dec 1: Tel Pathar Sangram Parishad (TPSP) has vowed to vehemently oppose any move of the government to create a separate subsidiary of the ONGC for the oil and gas resources of Assam. At an emergency meeting held recently in Sivasagar, the TPSP executive discussed at length about the different aspects of the government’s move and its impact on the local economy.

Former Minister Pramod Gogoi, who is also the president of TPSP, while expressing surprise at the government’s move, said the ONGC does not have a subsidiary anywhere in India to explore oil and gas resources. “The public sector giant has only production sharing agreement with other companies at select locations”, he said.

He termed the reported move as a conspiracy to privatize the oil and gas resources owned by the ONGC in Assam. “The ONGC had not taken any concrete move to increase production in Assam for more than a decade, and the move comes at a time when the Assam Renewal Project for revamping the oil and gas installations is on the pipeline”, he said.

He blamed the Union Petroleum Secretary and a section of ONGC top officials, who have acted as catalysts in the episode, for hatching a conspiracy to create a separate subsidiary for their personal gain. Recalling the earlier move of the Government a couple of years back to hand over the Rudrasagar Oil Field to a private company, Gogoi said that a few top officials of the ONGC, who surprisingly belonged to the State, prepared the blueprint for handing over the oil field to a Canada-based oil company for their personal gain.

“These officials had stake in the Canada-based company, and we feel sad to say that a top Assamese ONGC official and an IAS officer, who was previously posted as Sivasagar Deputy Commissioner and now under deputation with the Central Government, have been acting as catalysts to create the subsidiary company”, Gogoi said. Gogoi, however, said most of the directors in the ONGC are against the move of the Petroleum Ministry and hoped that the Government would soon withdraw the move. Gogoi also came down heavily on the ONGC for its failure in increasing production in the State. “Disturbing security scenario has been shown as excuse by the ONGC for its inability in increasing oil and gas production in the State. But it is to be noted that production from the oil and gas fields of Assam was at its peak during the Assam agitation and the ULFA heydays during the late eighties and early nineties of the last century”, he said.

Meanwhile, the TPSP has called another meeting on December 3 at Brindavan Hotel in Sivasagar to discuss about its future course of action in the wake of the silence maintained by the Petroleum Ministry regarding the issue. The TPSP had earlier sent a memorandum to the government to clarify its (Government) stand over the issue and set a deadline till November 30 to receive government’s clarification. THE SENTINEL