Homage to Raha

The Petrotech International Oil and Gas exhibition in the Capital ended last week with an unplanned tribute to former ONGC chief Subir Raha, who died earlier this year. At the valedictory session, which was addressed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and attended by petroleum minister Murli Deora, his deputy Jitin Prasada and current ONGC chairman R S Sharma among others, someone from the audience stood up and asked everyone in the huge Vigyan Bhawan plenary hall to maintain one minute of silence in Raha’s memory, saying his contribution to Petrotech in the past had been phenomenal. This might have been awkward given Raha’s blunt opposition to government interference when he was in office but Prasada whispered something in Mukherjee’s ear and he stood up to pay homage to Raha along with everyone else.