EIL to face 'green' challenges at ONGC Goa
Engineers India (EIL) faces a challenge planting enough trees to replace those allegedly cut down at ONGC's campus in Goa.
EIL is in charge of executing two controversial construction projects worth Rs765cr ($91m) at the site, where ONGC held the India Energy Week (IEW) on February 8-9 (2024). A member of the ONGC lobby group ASTO in Goa said forest department approvals were received from the government of Goa before IEW-2024 when some trees were allegedly cut down.
"If forest clearances were needed, it means trees were felled," argues another ONGC source. ONGC is planning to construct a convention centre worth Rs475cr ($56m), finalised in March (2024); and an Rs290cr ($36m) management training institute project, which was finalised on May 22 (2024) at a meeting of the Management Committee of Directors (MCoD), headed by chairman Arun Singh.
EIL was nominated for both projects at the 250-acre premises of ONGC's former Institute of Petroleum Safety, Health and Environment Management (IPSHEM), now renamed Advanced Training Institute (ATI). A source says the tree planting project will likely be overseen by Subhas Balakumar, who the PESB has recommended as EIL director projects after interviews on August 22 (2024).
The ATI site is about 70-km from the nearest airport. ONGC is also eyeing Hubbali airport near Dharwad in Karnataka, where Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a new terminal on March 10 (2024).
Hubbali airport is about 146-km from Goa and could be a valuable link for transporting officers to the ONGC site. "Goa is becoming a convention hub, so let us see how ONGC can earn from this," says our ASTO source.
"At least three decent hotels are expected to come up a few kilometres from the premises." Some ask what the point of a new management training institute is.
ONGC management apparently wants one management training programme conducted for every two safety training programmes at the proposed training facility. Yet ONGC has already recently upgraded the old facilities at the ATI site to include a Sea Survival Training Centre/Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), Offshore Platform Safety Training Facility, a Drilling Rig Safety Training Simulator, an Onshore Process Plant Safety Training Complex, a Pressure Vessels Fire Safety Training Area, and a Viewing Gallery with classrooms and conference halls also planned.