GUWAHATI: The BJP-led NDA government’s decision to open up 12 small oil and gas fields in Assam for
bidding from July 15 next has been opposed by BJP’s ally in Assam, regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
Two days after Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the NDA government’s decision to auction 12 small oilfields of Assam, the AGP on Monday announced its opposition to the decision and asked the Centre to reconsider the move.
“We are against privatization of any oilfield of the state. This decision goes against the wishes of the people of Assam who have only two months ago voted the BJP-led alliance to power in the state.
Privatisation of the oilfields takes away the people’s right over the state’s resources. We appeal to the Centre to reconsider the decision,” AGP general secretary Kamala Kalita said here on Monday.
Kalita also said that the AGP stood for strengthening PSUs like Oil India Ltd and ONGCL so that these government companies could acquire better technology to explore the 12 oilfields that they had discovered years back but yet to try monetizing those.
“The best way out is to strengthen Oil India Ltd and ONGCL and let them acquire better technology to explore these so-called unviable oilfields,” Kalita said.
The AGP, which had won 14 seats in the recent Assam assembly elections, has two ministers in the cabinet headed by Sarbananda Sonowal.
Opposition political parties Congress and AIUDF too have expressed their opposition to the NDA government’s decision so has Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), an NGO.
Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that auction of the 12 small oilfields would trigger off a rolling of about Rs 4000 crore in Assam’s economy besides adding to the country’s oil output in the next few years.
“These 12 oilfields, which have a resource potential worth Rs 17,000 crore, would not only help roll about Rs 4,000 crore in Assam’s economy, but also create jobs and add to the state’s revenue from oil royalty,” Pradhan said.
