State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has sent a proposal to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry proposing a 'lucrative’ Voluntary Retirement Scheme(VRS) on the grounds that a good number of employees on the payrolls have outlived their utility in the organisation.
In order to make the scheme more attractive for the employees, ONGC has decided that it would remove from the draft VRS scheme for 2012 the provision for one time lump sum contribution by the employees for availing post medical facilities. Earlier, ONGC use to charge a one time lumpsum from the employees who opted for the VRS. ONGC has been floating VRS since 2008 but the scheme has received a lukewarm response from the employees and only 476 employees left the organisation during the last six years.
Officials in the Petroleum Ministry said that ONGC Director(Human Resources), K.S. Jamestien, after seeking the approval of the Human Resources Management Committee, had sent a proposal to the Petroleum Ministry explaining that ONGC still had good number of employees who possess lower qualification and/or have constraints on their movements/postings away from their present place of posting and are not able to contribute to the desired levels and are also in an age group where learning is minimal. "it is therefore proposed to operate Voluntary Retirement Scheme in strictly in accordance with Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines.
The ONGC board had also endorsed the views of the Human Resources Management Committee and decided to seek the approval of the Petroleum Ministry to make the scheme operational by next month.
