Assam Congress MPs protest against proposed privatisation of Numaligarh Refinery

Congress lawmakers from Assam, including Ripun Bora and Gaurav Gogoi, on Tuesday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's bust in Parliament premises against the proposed privatisation of Numaligarh Refinery in the state.

The members raised slogans against the refinery's privatisation and held placards such as -- 'Numaligarh Refinery - heartbeat of Assam, stop privatisation' and 'Save Assam, Save India'.

"We are staging a protest to bring to the BJP government's notice the reported move to privatise the Numaligarh Refinery, which is a product of the historic Assam Accord. This is a profit-earning refinery and it is emotionally attached to the people of Assam. This (privatisation of refinery) is a great injustice to the people of the state," Bora, who is Assam Congress unit chief, told ANI.

Located in Morangi in Assam's Golaghat district, the Numaligarh Refinery is owned by the Numaligarh Refinery Limited. Bharat Petroleum, Oil India and the Assam government have their shares in the refinery.

In January this year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) sanctioned Rs 22,594 crore to increase the capacity of Numaligarh Refinery by three times to fulfill the petroleum needs in the entire North-East region.

The Centre also gave its approval to increase the refinery's capacity from three million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to nine MMTPA.