Arun Singh avoids Nazira during Assam visit
Almost a year after taking charge, ONGC chairman Arun Singh has finally visited northeast India but could not find time to meet ONGC employees in Nazira, the HQ of its biggest asset in Assam.
On November 4 (2023), Singh accompanied oil minister Hardeep Puri to Assam and Nagaland. This was Singh's first visit to the northeast since his appointment as chairman on December 7 (2022).
But ONGC employees at the Nazira-based Assam asset were sorely disappointed that he didn't meet them. Singh went to Sivasagar, where he inaugurated an ONGC-built hospital, but did not show up as expected for a town hall meeting scheduled at the Dr BR Ambedkar Auditorium in Nazira on November 4 (2023) at noon, around 15-km from Sivasagar.
Nazira asset officials had even designed a grand invite: ED-Asset Manager, Assam Asset, cordially invites you to a town hall meeting to be addressed by Arun Kumar Singh, honourable chairman and CEO. Also on the agenda was a lunch at the ONGC Officers Club.
"They were kept waiting," says a source. "Finally, the production director (Pankaj Kumar) and HR director (Manish Patil) met those waiting for the CMD."
During the meeting, ONGC officers complained about poor colony housing conditions and the non-availability of PPE. Another source said the open forum would have allowed ONGC staff to tell Singh about health and safety concerns, such as a chronic shortage of protective footwear.
"That's why this is a tough location," he says. "Singh was scheduled to visit Nazira and Jorhat, but at the last minute, the programme was cancelled, and he went to Nagaland with the minister."
Singh and Puri, who doubles up as the housing and urban affairs minister, flew to Kohima, inaugurated a multi-level parking facility, and returned to Guwahati the same evening. According to a source, Nagaland's geology and mining department was unaware of the VIP visit.
Still unclear is whether Singh met Nagaland's chief minister, Neiphiu Rio. ONGC and Oil India are both keen to resume exploration in the prospective Naga Schuppen belt that runs along Nagaland's western border.