Oil workers oppose bid to auction oilfields

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 2: The North-Eastern Region Oil Workers’ Coordition Committee (NEROWCC) has opposed the government’s move to auction as many as 67 oilfields in the country, including 12 in Assam, and said that privatization of oilfields would cost the tion and Assam dearly.

Addressing the press against the privatization move, NEROWCC president Rohini Kalita said: “In the event of privatization of the oilfields of Assam, the private companies will only pay Assam revenue shares and not dividend as was the case earlier. Apart from oil royalty, OIL and ONGC pay Assam cess and subsidies, etc. However, private companies won’t have to make such payments in accordance with the condition set for the auctioning. This part, the private companies will fix the rates of crude oil and tural on their own, and the government will have no say in this regard. Even if any valuable elements like uranium are discovered in the oil wells, the government won’t have any ownership rights on them. No condition has been set on employment avenues in the private companies.”

Kalita said: “We demand the use of state-of-the-art technology by OIL and ONGC to extract more crude oil from the wells. We also demand increasing the refining capacities of the four oil refineries in the State. Vacant posts in the oil companies need to be filled soon, and contractual workers who have been working in the companies should be given all facilities. We’re going to hold a joint labour convention on July 3.”