ATASU bandh cost ONGC 554 MT oil per day 

Guwahati, August 28: The 100 hour bandh called by All Tai Ahom Students Union (ATASU) in a ONGC operation site in Sivdagar district had cost the oil major of production of 554 matric ton of oil per day since August 23 last. 

The students’ body had called the bandh to protest against the company’s decision to start drilling of a rig near a historical monument—Rongghar.  

The ATASU said that the ONGC had violated the regulations of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) regarding the historical monuments and said that that the drilling works had partially damaged the monument, which dates back to 18^th century. 

ONGC’s Director of HR and Business Development AK Balyan, who rushed to Assam capital on Thursday, said that 100 hour bandh (which is still on ) had not only affected the oil major but also the state exchequer. 

“On August 22, our production was 3200 MT. But after halting the operations in the two wells our production stands at only 2646 MT as of today, which indicated the loss of 554 MT oil everyday,” said Director (On Shore operations) of the ONGC AK Hazarika. This goes to a loss of about Rs 6 to 7 lakh per day, excluding the additional operational cost. 

“The ONGC had stopped not only the drilling near the Rongghar but also the operation in the two other wells following the uproar by the local organization, which are in the vicinity of the Rongghar. However, the organization still went ahead with the 100 hour bandh,” said Balyan while adding that the halt of operation had been cost the company of producing 554 MT oil every day. 

Balyan not only refuted the charges of damage to the monument but added that the ONGC has been very keen on preserving the monuments in the entire district. “It is the ONGC\, who had earlier urged the state Archaeology department to prepare a blue print of preservation of all the monuments in the Sivsagar district and added that the ONGC would fund the whole project,” he said. 

“Today also we have urged the Assam government to prepare a blue print of preservation of all the monuments in the district, which will be funded by ONGC,” said Hazarika, who also assured that ONGC is not going to do anything that is harmful or affects the sentiments of Assamese people and Assam as a whole.