Congress MPs from Assam on November 19th, 2019 staged protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament premises against the privatisation of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), the largest refinery in the North-Eastern region.

MPs Gaurav Gogoi, Pradyut Bordoloi, Ripun Bora and Abdul Khaleque were seen holding placards and appealing the government to roll back the privatisation plan as “NLR is the heartbeat of Assam”.

The Centre is looking to sell its entire holding in oil major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), which holds the majority stake in the NRL, by December of this year. The BPCL holds 61.65 per cent equity in the NRL located in the Golaghat district. The privatisation of the BPCL will subsequently result in the privatization of NRL.

A few days back, Bordoloi had written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman opposing the Centre’s proposed move to privatise the BPCL. The MPs said that privatisation of the BPCL will have an adverse impact on the Numaligarh Refinery in Assam.

Gogoi too had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his concern over the privatisation of the NRL. The Kaliabor MP wrote that the NRL has been conferred the status of Mini Ratna PSU and its privatization would not only hurt the local sentiments and shared history but would also leave several local people jobless and insecure.

Photo credit: @scribe_prashant