DULIAJAN, May 2 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the country�s second highest profit making public sector crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company Oil India LTD (OIL) to take up more Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes with an objective to boost the rural economy of Assam.
At a meeting held on April 30 evening here, Sonowal with a view to observe the crude oil and natural gas exploration activities of OIL during the lockdown period, met the officials of Duliajan- situated field headquarters top officials. In this regard, a meeting was held at the Assam Gas Company Limited (AGCL) headquarters, Duliajan. After meeting OIL and AGCL officials separately, Sonowal told mediapersons that he has urged the OIL to give stress on the rural economy while shaping and enacting the Corporate Social Responsibility schemes of the company. Sonowal asked the OIL to give preference to agriculture, fisheries, horticulture and other agriculture-related activities while implementing CSR schemes in post-lockdown period.
�Self dependency in the agriculture sector only can save the State�s economy. Top economists of the State have suggested to us make proper production, procurement and marketing chains of the agricultural products to attain self reliance in economic sector,� he said.
For furthering industrial development, Sonowal asked OIL to increase the production of natural gas in the future.
�For industrial development, PSUs like the AGCL, APCL, BVCL and NTPC Namrup and the tea industry must run without interruption and for that we need increased gas production from OIL,� he stated.
Sonowal had a meeting with the OIL officials led by the Resident Chief Executive of the company Dilip Kumar Das.
After the meeting, the CM met the managing director Gokul Chandra Swargiary and other officers and oversaw the proposed activities and targets of the company in the post lockdown period. As briefed to the media, to give a relief to the tea sector, Sonowal has ordered the AGCL authorities to waive the Minimum Demand Charge of gas bills to 409 tea gardens of the State. Those 409 tea gardens are AGCL consumers. These tea gardens were compelled to stop tea production due to the national lockdown.
Sarbananda Sonowal stated that the AGCL has chalked out an action plan to speed up piped gas connection to 2 lakh domestic consumers in the next three years. On the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector, AGCL will establish 100 CNG stations in Assam in the future, Sonowal added.
To fight the pandemic, the officers and workers of AGCL have donated a sum of Rs 17 lakh which covered their two-day salary to the Chief Minister�s Relief Fund.
A documentary featuring the challenges faced while continuing the rigging and production activities of the company during the national lockdown was released at the venue. Planned and executed by the OIL�s public affairs department officers Tridiv Hazarika, Jayant Bormudoi and Rinku Borah, the six-minute duration documentary titled Unlocking Potential was highly praised by Sonowal.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by AGCL Chairman Bolin Chetia, Duliajan MLA Terash Gowala, Tingkhong MLA Bimal Bora, Lahowal MLA Rituparna Baruah, Dibrugarh DC Pallav Gopal Jha, AGCL Vice Chairman Indra Gogoi and Circle officer of Tengakhat Minaeva Devi Arambam.
