People in Assam heaved a sigh of relief as union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Wednesday that the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) will not be disinvested even as the Centre approved the strategic disinvestment of five PSUs including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
Currently, BPCL holds 61.65 percent of NRL. Of the balance 38.35 percent share, the state government holds 12.35 percent, while Oil India Limited has 26 percent stake in the refinery.
The Numaligarh Refinery Employees' Union (NREU) that had been protesting against the possibility of the refinery's privatisation welcomed the government’s decision.
"We welcome the decision taken by the Narendra Modi-led government, which is not just beneficial for Assam, but the entire Northeast. We thank the people of Assam and all stakeholders for supporting the agitation led by NREU. We also wish for early completion of the expansion work in the refinery," said Binod Gogoi, secretary, NREU.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had recently written to Prime Minister Modi requesting him to “maintain the PSU status of NRL even if BPCL is privatized disinvested”.
He also highlighted how the Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone for the expansion of NRL to enhance its capacity from existing 3 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) to 9 MMTPA at a project cost exceeding Rs 22,000 crore. The chief minister termed it as the highest ever investment in Northeast, so far.
The NRL, which is a subsidiary of BPCL, was set up as per the Assam Accord of 1985 — an outcome of the six-year-long Assam agitation. The refinery situated in Assam’s Golaghat district was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on July 9, 1999. According to a memorandum submitted by the NREU to the state government last month, NRL has paid more than Rs 30,000 crore to the national and state exchequer since the commencement of commercial operations in October 2000.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), one of the signatories to the Assam Accord, appealed to the Centre against privatisation of state assets in future.
"The Numaligarh Refinery was established as part of the Assam Accord. We want to request Centre not to privatise state assets in future. People in Assam would have never accepted the privatisation of NRL. It is associated with the emotions of the people. The government should rather find ways to revive the dying industries of Assam and generate employment for Assamese youth,” said Angshuman Bora, AASU president of Golaghat unit.
Earlier on Tuesday, Congress parliamentarians Gaurav Gogoi, Ripun Bora, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque staged a dharna outside Parliament carrying placards - “Numaligarh Refinery – Heartbeat of Assam” and “Save Assam, Save India” to voice their opposition against any move by the government to privatise NRL.
“We had opposed it, and at any cost, it should not be privatised. In fact, no PSU should go to private companies in future,” said Congress MP Abdul Khaleque.
The mini-ratna PSU has a net worth of Rs 5,500 crore and employs about 10,000 personnel directly or indirectly.
