By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, June 5: The North-Eastern Region OIL Workers' Coordition Committee (NEROWCC) refuted the report of shifting of Assam Oil Division (AOD) office from Guwahati to Kolkata and giving oil royalty to the West Bengal Government.
Addressing a press conference here today, NEROWCC president Biren Kalita said: "Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) office at Guwahati is one of the offices under the regiol office at Kolkata under which the IOC offices in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisa are working. Up to June 1, the business codes of IOC and Assam Oil Division (AOD) were different. However, now the IOC central office has a common business code '7500' and changed its me from North East Integrated State Office (NESO) to Indian Oil-Assam Oil Division (IOC-AOD). The report of shifting of the office is not true."
Kalita also said: "From IOC Guwahati marketing office, the state government gets Rs 45 crore a month as sale tax. It also receives Rs 4,000 crore a year as entry tax, VAT, professiol tax and royalty. But the government doesn't increase the capacity of the production rate of oil refineries in the state. The production capacity of IOC refineries located in Assam are - Guwahati Refinery 1.00 milion matric tonnes (MMTPA), Digboi Refinery 0.65 MMTPA and Bongaigaon 2.35 MMTPA - which are much less than other refineries."
"Due to fall in production the three refineries incurred a loss of Rs 57 crore, Rs 65 crore and Rs 887 crore respectively in fiscal 2014-15. Though the state government exempted the custom and excise cess up to 50 per cent, the loss could not be met with, and hence the government should exempt 100 per cent cess till the production capacity increases," Kalita said.
Kalita said: "The Central Government recently announced the sale of 10 per cent of IOC shares to private sectors. Such a move will hamper in the susceptibility of these refineries. This is because, if over 50 per cent shares are owned by private parties, the organization will be handed over to the private sector. The government has stakes of 68. 7 per cent, and after the sale 10 per cent shares, it will be 58.7 per cent."