Youths' dreams to come true through OIL’s CSR: Utpal Bora

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STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 4: Oil India Ltd (OIL), an Upper Assam-based exploration and production giant, will spend Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years to create various state-of-art infrastructures and drill wells to enhance oil and gas production even as the company is spending more than two per cent of its profit for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to implement public welfare schemes.

OIL had inked an MoU with the Assam Government during the Global Investors’ Summit held in Guwahati in February this year giving its commitment to spend Rs 10,000 crore.

Chairman & Managing Director of OIL Utpal Bora told The Sentinel that even though OIL is mandated as per the law to spend two per cent of its total profit after paying taxes for the CSR activities, the company has been spending more than the stipulated amount to meet increasing demands and aspirations of the people of Assam.  

“We are happy and proud that OIL has been able to bring about a sort of socio-economic revolution, especially in Upper Assam, through its various CSR activities. Under the CSR OIL’s prime focus is on education and health,” Bora said.

One of the flagship projects under OIL’s CSR is free coaching and accommodation for a year to students Below Poverty Line (BPL) category to successfully compete for the all India entrance tests for admission into IITs and NITs in the country. OIL has been successfully running such coaching institutes in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Jorhat, Guwahati, Itanagar and Jodhpur for the last few years.

“Free coaching to BPL students has yielded results with over 500 students could clear the national entrance tests and took admission in IITs and NITs. Every coaching campus admits 30 students annually. Popularity of such coaching institutes has made OIL set up a new centre at Nagaon in central Assam,” Bora said, adding that besides academic field OIL is spending huge amount of funds to promote talents in various fields, particularly sports.  

The OIL CMD said apart from engineering coaching OIL has now decided to set up a free coaching centre for the all India medical entrance test, especially for girls. Initially 15 students will be admitted for free medical entrance coaching at the institute in Dibrugarh.

Even though there is an urgent need to create more employment but with increasing competition and few industries, jobs were drying up. Under the circumstances, PSUs like OIL are looked upon as a last resort by many educated and semi-educated youths, especially the people living in OIL’s area of operations in upper Assam districts.

“We are implementing various schemes aiming at a sustainable development model to provide alternative means of livelihood through skill-enhancing training.OIL has already set up a state-of-the-art Skill Development Institute. The institute has been set up by Oil India Limited as per the directive of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in line with similar skill development institutes established by other major oil and gas sector PSUs in other parts of the country. The aim of the institutes is to cater to the skill development requirement to Northeast youths and enhance their employability in hydrocarbon as well as other sectors,” Bora said.

Bora said OIL is also committed to give direct employment to approximately 500 youths every year in the company by recruiting them at different categories of jobs. He said many more projects are on the pipelines under OIL’s CSR to make youths realize their dreams.

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