ASTO losing its magic touch
When it was set up in 1961, the Association of Scientific and Technical Officers (ASTO) counted less than 100 members at ONGC.
As its name implies, they were drawn - mainly but not exclusively - from ONGC's science and technical streams. At its height, ASTO claims to have counted up to 20,000 members.
But this has shrunk to less than half over time as members lose faith in its ability to protect their interests and leave in droves. How else to explain the results of elections to ASTO committees across ONGC assets in India? Most of ASTO's regional 'presidents' were elected 'unopposed', suggesting an unwillingness by regular ONGC staff to put their names forward for election.
Worse, hardly any of the winners come from technical or scientific streams. Instead, the list is peppered with HR managers and ONGC doctors.
At ONGC's Mehsana asset, additional chief medical officer Dr Himanshu Kukreti was elected 'president' on May 2 (2023) - unopposed. Kukreti will serve until 2025.
At ONGC's Ankleshwar asset, HR manager Ravindranath Krishna Suvarna was elected 'president' - also unopposed. Another five ASTO posts were elected unopposed, albeit two by a superintending engineer and an executive engineer.
At ONGC's Kakinada asset, four ASTO bearers - two of them non-technical - were declared 'victorious' on April 27 (2023) - unopposed. At Kakinada, the newly-elected ASTO 'president' KS Kalyan Chakravarthy, is a finance and accounts GM; the newly-elected ASTO 'secretary' Himank Sharma is drawn from ONGC's - arguably non-technical - marketing stream.
Still awaited are results on May 12 (2023) from ASTO elections in Delhi. "Here too, the candidate for 'president' (Nishant Kumar) is a DGM from human resources," says a source.
"Many other Delhi contestants are from the medical, finance or HR departments." Also awaited are the results from a second round of polling at ONGC's Agartala-based Tripura asset on May 12 (2023).
No surprise that here again, a doctor has pitched himself as the asset's new 'president': medical officer Dr Ranjan Debbarma. ASTO formally registered as a 'Society' on June 8 (1967), and with its flat hierarchy, treats all 22 regional ASTO presidents as equal.