By IANS,
New Delhi : The All Assam Students Union (AASU) has promised hydrocarbon major Oil and Natural Gas Commission Ltd (ONGC) “unconditional support” and exemption from shutdowns so that the company can carry out its operations in the northeastern state in an uninterrupted manner.
The promise was made during a two-hour meeting ONGC chairman R.S.Sharma and other senior company officials held with AASU office-bearers here Friday, a company statement said.
The AASU delegation included Dibrugarh MP S.Sonwal, union president S.P. Ray and union general secretary Tapan Gogoi.
“The challenges in ONGC’s Assam operations, emanating from the agitations there, were presented to the AASU representatives at the beginning of the meeting, especially the loss in productivity due to the bandhs and barricades,” said the ONGC statement.
It quoted Assam MP Sonwal as appealing to the people of the state to cooperate with ONGC’s operations so that the “economic prosperity of ONGC may get translated to economic prosperity of the region”.
“AASU representatives assured their unconditional support and cooperation to the operations of ONGC in the agitation-ridden northeastern state,” the statement said.
The students’ group also said that it would ask other pressure groups to exempt ONGC’s operations from bandhs and barricades.
Acceeding to AASU’s approach for corporate support, ONGC said it would support augmentation of healthcare facilities in a hospital in Sibsagar district, increase training of qualified local youth in ONGC facilities and facilitate improvement in computer training.