August is a significant time for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) as it is the month in which this company, now a “Maharatna” of India, was born in the serene environs of the Doon valley.
This year, August has become more special as the corporation completes sixty years of its glorious existence.
All employees and also retired employees got together at The KDMIPE campus to enjoy ONGC Day celebrations on August 14 and then rejoice together on August 15 on Independence Day.
The Doon valley cannot be imagined without the existence of the ONGC as the growth of this corporate giant , since its inception in 1956 in this city, has been almost synonymous with the growth of Dehradun.
The quintessence of this growth lies in the heart of ONGC, the beautiful “Tel Bhawan” in Dehradun cantonment area.
ONGC’s top officials have always conveyed their sentiments towards their organisation’s long association with the city of Doon.
They have, time and again, reiterated their commitment to maintain Dehradun as the ONGC Headquarters. ONGC has its origins in the Oil and Gas Directorate of the Union Government. In the early 1950s, the international oil lobby sought to prove that India had no producible reserves of oil or gas.
But Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Union Minister for Natural Resources Keshav Dev Malaviya knew better. Nehru said: “A country that does not produce its own oil is in a weak position. From the point of view of defence, the absence of oil is a fatal weakness.”
In August 1956, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission was set up, with Malaviya as its chairman. Malaviya was a chemical engineer by education and his commitment to India’s scientific and technological progress was a shining example of patriotism to the younger generation of political workers and a source of strength to the scientific community. Despite many odds, he fought for India’s right to have its own national oil industry. He is undoubtedly the father of the Indian oil industry.
The “Patiala House”, on 6, Young Road, where the ONGC’s “Tel Bhawan” is still housed in the Doon valley’s cantonment area had a crucial role to play in this story. ONGC’s first name was Oil and Gas Division that was attached to Calcutta-based Geological Survey of India (GSI). And it was mainly from GSI that the first nucleus of ONGC’s leadership came- Austin Manindra Nath (AMN) Ghosh, Mandagere Bhardwaj Ramchandra (MBR) Rao, a geophysicist, lP Mathur, BS Negi and Dr BC Deshpande. All of them were among the founding fathers of ONGC.
MBR Rao had earlier been sent to Doon from Calcutta to identify a suitable premises for housing the headquarters of the Oil & Natural Gas directorate. Patiala House was chosen on a monthly rent of ` 2,500.
Patiala House had been purchased by Rajamata Bakhtawar Kaur, wife of His Highness Maharaja Bhupender Singh of Patiala.
The Rajmata later gave the palatial Patiala House as a gift to her daughter,Maharani Yadunandan Kumari, fondly called “Honey” by the family. Honey married Col. Raja Surender Singh of Nalagarh State, and became Rani of Nalagarh. Captain Amarinder Singh is the grandson of Maharaja Bhupender Singh.
Rani Yadunandan Kumari was the owner when she sold the Patiala House on April 2, 1957 to the President of India.
It then came to ONGC at a total sale consideration of `6,20,000.
With many mango and litchi trees dotting it, the Patiala House estate is a wonderful legacy which the ONGC has lovingly preserved in the form of the “Subir Raha Oil Museum” without disturbing the original architecture.
‘The museum is the only one of its kind in India. It was earlier known as the “ONGC Golden Jubilee Museum.”
It was rechristened after the death of Raha who was the ONGC chairman for five years from May 2001 and was
instrumental in setting up the museum.
The Museum was inaugurated by late Dr AP J Abdul Kalam on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the ONGC.
It was envisioned in the year 2002 by Subir Raha. A multi disciplinary team of in-house talent led by M R Rao prepared the blueprint of this historic museum under the guidance of famous museumologist Sadashiv Gorashkar, former director of the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai. “Patiala House” was first restored by a team of civil engineers of the ONGC to its original regal splendour with the help of conservation architect Vikas Dilawari.