From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Bandhs and agitation programmes have been affecting various economic activities in trouble-torn Assam though the state is bestowed with plenty of mineral resources and lush green tea estates.
Public sector oil giant Oil India Ltd (OIL) which has it’s headquarter at Duliajan in Dibrugarh district of eastern Assam is facing trouble and huge production loss for such local level agitations called by various organisations.
The OIL has suffered a loss of at least Rs 200 crores during fiscal 2012-13 due to as many as 290 bandhs, blockades called by numerous organisations in three eastern Assam districts Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia where the company has its oil and gas fields, according the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the company , S K Srivastava.
He said here, “Numerous bandhs and blockades have severely affected our drilling and production activities in Assam. With 290 bandhs, blockades and obstructions by various organizations big and small, the OIL has suffered a loss of at least Rs 200 crore during the last financial year,”.
He informed that while OIL’s crude oil output came down from 3.95 million metric tons in 2011-12 to 3.71 million metric tons in 2012-13. In monetary terms the loss amounts to about Rs 200 crores.
The CMD said though there were certain genuine grievances as aired by some of these organisations, it was the responsibility of the OIL to address and resolve these.
He said these issues and related agitation programmes created an adverse atmosphere that seriously affected the OIL’s crude oil exploration and production operations during 2012-13.
“Besides production loss , we also suffered a lot of damages to our vehicles, equipment and other property, leading to a serious impact on the morale of our workforce,” the CMD said. Oil India Ltd, which had netted Rs 3589-crore profit after tax during 2012-13, which was a 4.13 per cent jump over the previous year.
According to the OIL chief executive the demands of the agitating organizations calling for bandhs ranged from construction and repair of roads and schools to providing drinking water in villages.
Some of the organisations even reservation of certain percentage of jobs and contracts for different communities in the PSU while some asks for development package for villages.