The Hindu : National : ONGC officers threaten stir

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Friday, Feb 16, 2007
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National

National

ONGC officers threaten stir

Special Correspondent

Against outsider heading organisation

R.S.Sharma

NEW DELHI: The Association of Scientific and Technical Officers (ASTO) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Thursday warned against attempts to appoint an outsider as chairman of the organisation and threatened to resort to direct action, including a token strike, if the Government did not come clean on the issue.

At a press conference here, ASTO president Sanjay Goel said it was shocking that despite the Public Enterprises Selection Board's (PESB) clearance of the name of R.S. Sharma, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had scrapped it.

"Why did the Board clear Mr. Sharma in the first place if there was something wrong? They [Government] have challenged the wisdom of the PESB and they have no answer for this.

They have not assigned any reason for scraping the entire panel for appointment of CMD." Citing recent examples of people cleared by the PESB being appointed in high offices, Mr. Goel pointed out that the CEOs of Gas Authority of India Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited were installed after the Board cleared their names.

The ASTO would submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue, Mr. Goel said but made it clear that any attempts to make appointments from the private sector or impose an outsider on the organisation would be resisted at any cost.

The association's central working committee met on Thursday and unanimously condemned the "indifferent" attitude of the Government. It demanded that the panel for appointment of CMD be restored immediately and appointment cleared without any further delay.

Mr. Goel warned against attempts to politicise the issue. He said the onus was on the Government not to precipitate an energy crisis in the country.

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