Assam CM dashed a letter to Centre seeking to know if BPCL is privatized, NRL will go into the hands of private player

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal dashed a letter to Centre following reports doing rounds for the last few days regarding handing over of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to private player and the consequent private investment in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) where in BPCL is the largest shareholder.
In a statement the state government stated BPCL is the largest shareholder of NRL and if BPCL is privatized, NRL will go into the hands of private player. In the wake of this, Sonowal on Monday sent a letter to the Central Government.

BPCL holds 61.65 per cent stake in the NRL while Oil India Limited (OIL) has 26 per cent stake. The Government of Assam has 12.35 percent stake in the refinery.

NRL was set up as per Assam accord of 1985. All Assam Students Union which is one of the signatory of Accord staged protest on Monday and stated that it will not allow dilution of character of NRL.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia alleged that state government is showing an indifferent attitude over the Central government’s decision to privatize BPCL and four other PSUs.

Saikia stated in a letter to Sonowal that “such a casual attitude towards an issue of critical importance for Assam and its people does not befit a Chief Minister.

Saikia stressed that the issue was extremely important for Assam because privatization of BPCL would entail privatization of its NRL, “which the people of our state received under the Assam Accord after making considerable sacrifices during the Assam Agitation.”

Saikia further pointed out “you could have easily verified whether the imminent privatization of BPCL/NRL is true or not, with one phone call to New Delhi. Since you have not deemed it necessary to do so, I feel it incumbent upon me as Leader of the Opposition to encapsulate the salient points to alleviate your ignorance. On 30th September, 2019, a group of Secretaries of the Government of India held a meeting and cleared disinvestment of BPCL, NEEPCO and three other PSUs. Subsequently, on the 11th of this month, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) hurriedly invited requests for proposals from eligible parties to work as transaction and legal advisers, as well as asset valuers for BPCL, NEEPCO etc. Last but not the least, the disinvestment proposals are expected to be accorded Cabinet Approval by the end of next month.”

The Leader of the Opposition stated that since a substantial quantum of public funds had been already used for asset creation and execution of various projects under NRL, “it will be a great betrayal of public interest if BPCL/NRL is privatized now.

Saikia urged Sonowal to “put Assam's interest above party's interest for once at this decisive juncture and prevail upon the Central government to abandon the plan for privatizing the profitable NRL, which is an outstanding rarity among Assam-based PSUs.”