Funding development projects; ONGC to hike regional outlay

JORHAT, April 17: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) will soon increase its regional allocation for funding socio-economic development projects in and around its areas of operation, the outgoing Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the oil giant Bikash Bora said while speaking as chief guest after formally inaugurating the Jorhat Lions Eye Hospital here recently. Presenting an account of the ONGC's contributions to various organisations on numerous fronts, Bora assured to support the Lion's benevolent movement to offer 'the best at the cheapest'. Though the Navratna company had contributed significantly towards procurement of sophisticated opthalmic equipments for the 20-bed hospital which has been functioning since the last one year, the ONGC General Manager (DVP) SC Gupta announced another Rs 1.5 lakh donation on the occasion. The oil giant's Eastern Region Business Centre (ERBC) Executive Director Kiran Kumar Jagati, who was the guest of honour at the solemn function, while lauding the Lion's initiative to serve society, spoke about the role and responsibilities of present-day PSUs and NGOs in helping to build infrastructural facilities while also providing assistance to the needy and the disabled. Equipped with a state-of-the-art operation theatre, the hospital is situated by the Tinikunia Pukhuri near the Jorhat Blind School and behind the ASEB head office in the city. Pledging to offer 'Quality Service at Affordable Cost', the hospital which encompasses a total area of 12,500 square feet, is a unit of the Jorhat Lions Service Trust formed on October 4, 1994. It would be pertinent to add that a male ward has been donated by the Chenijan Group of Gardens in memory of the late Padmanath Sarma and Sarojini Devi, besides similar contribution by four other families in all. Planning to start an eye bank and a mobile opthalmic clinic in the near future, some doctors, the managing trustee and a member of the service centre have since undergone management training at the Lions Aravind Eye Institute of Community Opthalmology at Madurai. Earlier, the Managing Trustee of the Jorhat Lions Club NC Karnany delivered the welcome address while the meeting on the occasion was presided over by the Lions Service Centre Chairman Sudhir Chandra Baruah.