ONGC observed Vigilance Awareness Week, an awareness campaign against corruption beginning on 31 October 2022, the birth anniversary of the first Deputy Prime Minister of India and first Home Minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. With the celebrations going on till 6 November 2022, the campaign was organized with the initiative to educate ONGCians as well as general public about the perils of corruption and its effect on the socio-economic development of the country.  The Theme for this year’s Vigilance Awareness week was “Corruption Free India for Developed Nation”

The XXXth issue of ‘SAJAG’ magazine was released on the occasion

As a part of this effort, ONGC also conducted various activities in several schools & colleges, apart from its Assets and Basins across the country. Activities such as essay writing, drawing and quiz competitions were organized in two schools — Kendra Vidyalaya, Rangpuri, and Kendra Vidyalaya, RK Puram, as well as Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi, Okhla — where a large number of students participated.

The inaugural function of the weeklong programs took place in the DUB Auditorium, New Delhi.  Shri, Pratyush Sinha, former Central Vigilance Commissioner graced the occasion as Chief Guest. In his keynote address, Mr Sinha thanked ONGC’s senior management for inviting him on such an important occasion. He labeled ONGC as the vanguard for many initiatives.

Mr Sinha shared his ideas on vigilance awareness at DUB

Speaking at length about the significance of this year’s theme for Vigilance Awareness Week, which is focused on ‘Corruption-free India for a developed Nation’, he said, “To become a developed society, we need to be largely corruption free. Corruption is not episodic, but a continuous process. We instantly invite maleficence if we are not vigilant as a society.” The event was also attended by CMD (officiating) & Director (Onshore) Anurag Sharma, Director (Finance) Pomila Jaspal, Chief Vigilance Officer Ranjan Prakash Thakur, ED - Chief Security Dr Baljit Singh (IPS), ONGC Videsh Director (Finance) Anupam Agarwal and GM (Vigilance) Vineeta Mehta Pandit.

Similarly, ONGCians in Dehradun took the National Unity pledge and Integrity pledge on the same day at Green Hills as the inaugural of Vigilance Awareness Week coincided with National Unity Day this year. Here, the Nation Unity Pledge in Hindi was administered by GGM Chief Corporate Drilling AK Goel, followed by the administration of the National unity Pledge in English by GGM–Head Corporate Administration RS Narayani. Further, the integrity pledge in Hindi was administered by GM (HR), I/c-Raj Bhasha & CSR Ram Raj Dwivedi. This was followed by the administration of integrity pledge in English by I/c-Vigilance, Dehradun, Vishal Kumar Sharma.

The administration of National Unity Pledge in Hindi at Green Hills was done by GGM, Chief Corporate Drilling, Amrendra Kumar Goel

In Mumbai, Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar inaugurated the Vigilance Awareness Week 2022 at NBP Green Heights, in the presence of ED – Basin Manager K R K Singh, ED– HRO Vijay Raj, CGM - Head Vigilance, Mumbai, M K Gupta, other senior executives and ONGCians. In his keynote address, Mr Kumar mentioned that this is the time when India is transforming and in order to transform into a developed country from a developing country, big steps need to be taken. “While the ensuing growth will bring a lot of positive changes like employment opportunities and better life conditions, it will also bring upon a situation of mass chaos, including malpractices. This is where we need to be reminded through the observance of such vigilance weeks so that we don’t fall prey to corrupt habits,” he added.

Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar delivering his keynote address during the inaugural ceremony

WSS Ahmedabad also observed Vigilance Awareness Week by pledging to keep the nation corruption free. In his welcome address, ED-Head WSS Ahmedabad BK Das mentioned that ONGC is one the most transparent organization and all ONGCians should be well informed about the standard procedures, guidelines, BDP Clause etc. for fearless decision making.

WSS employees taking Integrity pledge

Meanwhile, at IPSHEM, Goa, ED-HOI Sanjeev Singhal inaugurated the Vigilance Awareness week 2022 and administered the Integrity pledge to all present in English followed by a pledge in Hindi by CGM-Head Environment NN Ray.

Administration of the Integrity pledge

Other Assets, including Tripura and Kakinada, further organized several vigilance-related sensitization programs to inform the audience about how vigilance is necessary for the survival of an organization. CL Ramakrishnan, IPS (Retd.), ex-DGP & former Director of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, was invited as the Guest of Honour at Kakinada who mentioned that vigilance bore a direct relation to the enhancement of productivity, as alertness is paramount to prevention of undesirable circumstances.

CL Ramakrishnan sharing his experiences on the occasion

Besides, a walkathon was also arranged in the morning at Deendayal Urja Bhawan on 4 November and a street play separately held at the ONGC Colony in Noida on 5 November to mark the closing ceremony of the Vigilance Week.