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CPI demands CBI probe into oil pilferage scam

By Barun Das Gupta

GUWAHATI, MAY 4. A new dimension to the crude oil pilferage scam was added today with the Assam unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) alleging that part of the scam money had found its way into the State Congress' coffers. Promode Gogoi, CPI leader, demanded that the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, sack the Transport Minister, Anjan Dutta, and the PWD Minister, Sarat Barkataky, for their alleged involvement in the scam. He also demanded that the Chief Minister hand over the inquiry to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

(The Minister of State for Planning and Development, Himanta Biswa Sharma, who tendered his resignation from the Cabinet in connection with the scam yesterday, met the Chief Minister today.)

Mr. Promode Gogoi, who is also the president of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission Workers' Association, told mediapersons that pilferage of huge quantities of crude oil from the pipelines of Oil India Limited (OIL) and the ONGC had been going on for years. So far, over Rs. 1,000-crore worth of crude oil had been pilfered. He said even a small "leakage" in the pipeline would lead to a fall in pressure and it would be immediately detected by the computer. It was, therefore, unbelievable that such huge pilferage had been going on for years without the knowledge of the Ministers, senior police officials and top functionaries of OIL and ONGC in Assam, Delhi, Dehra Dun and Mumbai. According to him, most of the blasts in the oil pipelines, routinely blamed on the United Liberation Front of Assam, were actually the handiwork of the pilfering gang which sold the crude to tea gardens. Mr. Gogoi also refuted the Transport Minister's plea of innocence and alleged that Mr. Dutta had illegally leased out the Assam State Transport Corporation's (ASTC) land and building at Jhanji to Putul Gogoi, the kingpin of the racket, for 99 years.

Mr. Putul Gogoi had constructed a palatial hotel on that site and it was none other than Mr. Dutta who had formally opened the hotel on February 27 this year."Therefore, Mr. Dutta's bland denial that he had anything to do with Mr. Putul Gogoi would find few takers," the CPI leader said.

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