Guwahati, Sep 5 : The chairman-cum-managing director of petroleum giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has apologised to the people of Assam on behalf of the company for installation of a rig near Rang Ghar in Sivasagar district.
R.C. Sarma’s apology came during a meeting with Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers B.K. Handique in New Delhi yesterday.
Handique had invited ONGC officials to the capital for a discussion on Rang Ghar, the minister said over phone today.
“When I pointed out to Sarma the ongoing controversy over the issue, he admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the company and he apologised to the people of Assam for the same.”
The apology comes days after an ONGC delegation rushed to Guwahati and met chief minister Tarun Gogoi seeking the government’s help to restart operations in Sivasagar.
The company suffered huge losses when the All Tai Asom Students’ Union called a 100-hour ONGC bandh in Sivasagar.
The district burst into protest after ONGC marked a drilling site within a radius of 125 metres from Rang Ghar, Asia’s oldest amphitheatre, built during the Ahom era.
According to regulations of the Archaeological Survey of India, if any drilling or mining activity is to be carried out within a 300-metre radius of a monument protected by it, it must be approved by the archaeological organisation.
The ONGC said it had acquired the plot near Rang Ghar for drilling in 1984.
The Archaeological Survey of India declared it a national monument only on October 28, 2000.
An official press note issued by the chief minister’s office this evening said: “CMD R.C. Sarma apologised on behalf of the ONGC if the sentiments of the local people are hurt because of the incidents. He also admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the ONGC to start operations there.”
“Actually, the whole issue arose because of some misunderstanding on the part of local officials of the ONGC,” Handique said.
“I also took strong exception to the reported remark of some officials that the ONGC would suspend operations in Assam. But Sarma assured me that there was no such plan,” he added.
The ONGC will offer Rs 1 crore to the chief minister for flood relief, Handique said.
R.C. Sarma’s apology came during a meeting with Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers B.K. Handique in New Delhi yesterday.
Handique had invited ONGC officials to the capital for a discussion on Rang Ghar, the minister said over phone today.
“When I pointed out to Sarma the ongoing controversy over the issue, he admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the company and he apologised to the people of Assam for the same.”
The apology comes days after an ONGC delegation rushed to Guwahati and met chief minister Tarun Gogoi seeking the government’s help to restart operations in Sivasagar.
The company suffered huge losses when the All Tai Asom Students’ Union called a 100-hour ONGC bandh in Sivasagar.
The district burst into protest after ONGC marked a drilling site within a radius of 125 metres from Rang Ghar, Asia’s oldest amphitheatre, built during the Ahom era.
According to regulations of the Archaeological Survey of India, if any drilling or mining activity is to be carried out within a 300-metre radius of a monument protected by it, it must be approved by the archaeological organisation.
The ONGC said it had acquired the plot near Rang Ghar for drilling in 1984.
The Archaeological Survey of India declared it a national monument only on October 28, 2000.
An official press note issued by the chief minister’s office this evening said: “CMD R.C. Sarma apologised on behalf of the ONGC if the sentiments of the local people are hurt because of the incidents. He also admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the ONGC to start operations there.”
“Actually, the whole issue arose because of some misunderstanding on the part of local officials of the ONGC,” Handique said.
“I also took strong exception to the reported remark of some officials that the ONGC would suspend operations in Assam. But Sarma assured me that there was no such plan,” he added.
The ONGC will offer Rs 1 crore to the chief minister for flood relief, Handique said.
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