Guwahati: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has intimated the Assam Government that it has received an extortion notice for Rs. 500 crores served in the name of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) even as the militant outfit on Sunday rejected the "safe passage" offered by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to its cadres for visiting their family members.

Highly placed sources told The Hindu on Sunday night that the ONGC had intimated the State Government that the company's corporate office at Nazira in upper

Ransom note by post

Assam's Sivasagar district had received the ransom note through post couple of days ago.

The sources stated that two top officials of the oil major — offshore chairman A.K. Hazarika and security adviser T. N. Mishra — had come all the way from New Delhi to apprise the State Government of the development and request augmented security to the officials and employees.

The extortion notice was served in the name of the 28th Battalion of the ULFA, which is active in upper Assam.

The ULFA on Sunday night stated in its fortnightly mouthpiece `Freedom' that the outfit expects "sincere interest and commitment from the Government of India for establishing lasting peace in Assam instead of any enticement of safe passage or general amnesty."

"The puppet Assam Government is trying to grasp political advantage by selling old wine in new bottles by sidetracking the core demand for the peace process."

It said `safe passage' had been rejected earlier by the ULFA several times.

The outfit said it was very "unfortunate that they fail to realise from their previous bitter experiences of failure."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail