The ONGC Para Games is a unique initiative where players can connect with each other-Rameswar Teli
In this 4th edition, apart from the 192 ONGCians, seven other public enterprises participated in the Para Games, including IOCL (21), GAIL (15), BPCL (13), MRPL (11), EIL (9), OIL (8) and HPCL (6).
New Delhi: Minister of State of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour and Employment Shri Rameswar Teli attended the Closing Ceremony of the fourth ONGC Para Games in Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi on 4 August 2022.
A total of 267 specially-abled employees from eight central oil and gas public enterprises participated in the 4th ONGC Para Games, that was organized by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) during 2-4 August 2022. 192 of these are from ONGC.
Admiring ONGC’s special Human Resources initiative during the Closing Ceremony of the 4th ONGC Para Games, the Petroleum Minister of State claimed that, “The ONGC Para Games is a unique initiative where players can connect with each other, compete with each other, creating a strong support system. I am sure will inspire many such events in the future.”
The Closing Ceremony saw the participation of ONGC CMD & Director (HR) Dr. Alka Mittal, ONGC Director (Technology & Field Services) O P Singh, Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar, Director (Finance) Pomila Jaspal, IOCL Director (HR) R K Mohapatra, and P.S. to the State Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dr. Dhrubasish K. Deka.
In 2017, ONGC first organized the Para Games to foster inclusiveness for its specially-abled employees. To widen the scope of the games, ONGC roped in athletes from IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, EIL, OIL and GAIL to be part of the 3rd edition of ONGC Para Games at Gandhinagar in 2019. In this 4th edition, apart from the 192 ONGCians, seven other public enterprises participated in the Para Games, including IOCL (21), GAIL (15), BPCL (13), MRPL (11), EIL (9), OIL (8) and HPCL (6).
Out of 63 female and 366 male employees in ONGC, the 4th edition of Para Games witnessed 35% participation from the former and 45 % from the latter. The 4th ONGC Para Games has a total of 70 events, including Badminton, Table Tennis, Races (100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, and 2 km), Long Jump and Discus Throw.
In her address, ONGC CMD Dr. Alka Mittal congratulated all the para athletes for coming all the way from different parts of the country. Dr. Mittal mentioned how important this cause was to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, given how readily both the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the Minister of State Rameswar Teli came to encourage the participants, despite the Parliament being in full swing. While expressing her gratitude, she said, “You must give your best wherever you go, continue with your growth, and remember we shall all proceed together.”
ONGC has been organizing the Para Games on an international format with the help of the Paralympic Committee of India. In the first edition of Para Games held in 2017, 120 ONGC PwD employees participated in games like athletics, badminton, table tennis and wheelchair race. Since then, the participation and the diversity of the games have progressively increased. In 2019, ONGC roped in the participation of other companies from the Indian oil and gas sector in the Para Games. A significant number of para-athletes participating in the ONGC Para Games have brought laurels to India in Paralympics as wells.