ULFA (I) sets Feb 16 deadline for Quippo to secure release of its employees

GUWAHATI: The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (I) has set a deadline of February 16 for release of the two private oil drilling company employees.

The ULFA (I), led by Paresh Barua has claimed to have abducted drilling superintendent PK Gogoi and radio operator Ram Kumar of the Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited from the Kumchaikha hydrocarbon drilling site at Diyun in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district on December 21 last year.

“If the company does not take necessary step to secure release of its employees by February 16, we will have to take appropriate action on their hired employee Ram Kumar on February 17. Besides, Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Ltd will be banned from both Assam as well as entire Southeast Asia from February 17,” an ULFA (I) statement, signed by the outfit’s publicity cell member Rumel Asom, said.

While Gogoi is a resident of Sivasagar district in Assam, Kumar hails from Bihar. Both were reportedly abducted in lieu of another employee of the company whom the rebels came looking for. The person they were looking for was on leave that day. The company operates oil and gas drilling sites in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.  

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The ULFA had recently released a video showing the two employees pleading with the chief ministers of Assam and Bihar to secure their release. The employees said in the video that they were abducted by the ULFA and NSCN.

The two were appealing to the chief ministers to make the company negotiate for an agreement with both the rebel groups.