- The Rao report on the '05 fire at Bombay High criticised Raha's style of functioning and found the senior management responsible for the accident
- But Raha's supporters kept the report away from the minister
- The minister found out about the report from sources outside the ministry. It hastened his decision on Raha.
- Mani Shankar Aiyar, Raha's worst critic, asked to assess his extension, gave negative comments on the file
- Several ONGC employees too complained about Raha's high-handedness
- Raha's supporters tried to involve the PMO in a last-minute effort
In an oblique criticism of Raha's style of functioning and the organisational culture he has created in the past few years, the report said fragmented administration does not "allow information-sharing, extreme risk areas don't get projected to higher (senior) management.... Remedial actions on audits is not effectively completed." In fact, most of the people are unaware of the systems and procedures and there's a general "lack of professional pride in what they (the ONGC employees and those of the support vessels) are doing...."
"We hold the senior management at ONGC completely responsible for the accident and find the organisation lacking in installing and instilling precautionary safety measures that could have boded well during the BHN accident," said a senior technical officer requesting anonymity. L.K. Mirchandani, president, ONGC's Association of Scientific and Technical Officers, summed it up saying that offshore employees are at continuous risk right from the chopper ride to the platform, the stay there and the ride back. The union, along with those in other oil PSUs, plans to go on an indefinite strike from May 31 this year to highlight long-standing issues like safety, personal growth within the organisation, and security and welfare of the officers.
ONGC sources say Raha ran the company like his personal fiefdom and took decisions in an almost dictatorial fashion. They add that even senior directors were scared of opposing the former chairman, or even criticise his policies. That's probably the reason why many employees celebrated his exit with crackers and distributed sweets. Raha also rubbed powerful people in the ministry the wrong way. His worst critic was the former petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was shunted out when he took on Raha publicly.
Aiyar, however, extracted his revenge when he was asked to assess Raha's extension. As per rules, only the minister and the secretary who have worked with a PSU head for at least 90 days are allowed to do the assessment. Since Deora and the petroleum secretary, M.S. Srinivasan, who was in the pro-Raha camp, haven't been in the ministry for that long, it was left to Aiyar and former secretary, S.C. Tripathi, who doesn't like Raha either, to give the notings on the file. The latter two gave negative comments and sources add that the file was moved only when Srinivasan was out of the country. Thus, the current secretary could do nothing to save Raha.
What allowed Deora to push for Raha's exit was the Rao's panel report and several letters written by ONGC employees against their CMD. Although the supporters of Raha tried to involve the prime minister's office as a last- ditch effort, it was in vain. At the end of the day, behind-the-scene plots and subplots to either save Raha or get him out will be forgotten soon. But what should be remembered is that ONGC has a long way to go to spruce up its safety measures. Or else, there'll be many offshore and onshore accidents.
