'Pressure to cut ONGC to size'

Uttarakhand governor, Margaret Alva on Monday called for resisting and rejecting pressure from vested quarters to what she feared was a move to cut the oil-giant ONGC to size.

“I have from various interested quarters, asked them to stop cutting ONGC to size or letting private players step in. Such activities will be resisted and rejected, so that the company continues to grow as the pride of the nation”, Alva said inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Keshava Deva Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE),the premier R & D centre of the ONGC at Dehradun.

However, she did not elaborate further. But, the ONGC officials present in the seminar expressed surprise over Alva’s speech. “There had been instances in some occasions in the past two decades that ONGC’s interests were compromised. But, on the whole, ONGC is marching ahead now,” said a top ONGC official. Alva also threw challenges before the ONGC saying the oil company must explore oil in Uttarakhand. “Uttarakhand has given a lot to ONGC and you must explore oil in Uttarakhand,” she said.

All studies done in the past by ONGC had failed to find any chances of oil in the Himalayan belt from Jammu to Uttarakhand. However, the official said fresh attempts can be made to find oil in the hill state.

The governor also said that in its eventful journey of 50 years, the KDMIPE had been instrumental in transforming the Rural and Developmental activities while providing valuable support to the oil and gas exploration of ONGC, which still remains the most successful company in oil and gas production in the country. She also lauded the role of ONGC is exploring oil outside the country from where 20 per cent of its oil is now being extracted.