COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

After West and North-East, south spells trouble for ONGC. And how!

A correspondent in Rajahmundry

Having pan-Indian business operations can be troublesome sometimes. Public sector behemoth Oil and Natural Gas Corporation would vouch for it.

Stormy weather wreaked havoc recently at its Hazira complex in western India. The militants have been making life miserable for the company in the North-East with their demands for favours and cash. And now, ONGC, as if it were taking a break from oil and gas, has plonked itself in troubled waters in the south.

A business-minded bureaucrat might end up in provoking Parliament into slapping a privilege notice against ONGC.

On Thursday, an eight-member study group of the parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and chemicals visited Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh to review ONGC operations.

In attendance was ONGC regional director C P Saha. So far so good.

When discussions began, Saha shocked the MPs by his conduct.

Fresh from a visit to the picturesque Krishna-Godavari basin of ONGC, the MPs, supplemented by the district administration's top brass and local Telugu Desam functionaries, were back in Rajahmundry and looking forward to a brainstorming session. How to streamline operations, improve the region and all that.

Enter Saha. He issues a threat to close down the show because return on investments are poor.

What irked Saha apparently was that ONGC operations in the K-G basin cost Rs 33 billion without yielding matching returns. And here the study team were arguing over extending financial assistance to local areas where ONGC has taken up drilling operations.

The MPs, West Godavari Collector Satish Chandra, Sub-collector B Venkatesam appeared flummoxed by Saha's threat.

Rajya Sabha member Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad and AP co-operation minister Metla Satyanarayana were livid.

''Close down the operations if you can. Let's see,'' they allegedly challenged Saha.

''Get out,'' burst out Prasad, signalling Saha out of the room. ''Do not unnecessarily interfere in the discussions.''

Prasad and other MPs declared the ''incident'' would be reported to Balram Jakhar, chairman of the study group, the ONGC chairman and Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurty. What's more, the matter will come up for privilege in the winter session of Parliament. Balram Singh Yadav led the group comprising Ashok Arjal, Malati Sharma, A C Sethi, Ashimbala, F C Tomar and Devibux Singh.

Additional reportage: UNI