GUWAHATI: The Oil India Ltd (OIL) on Saturday announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh to sprinter Hima Das of Assam, who had last month become the first Indian athlete to win a gold for the country in any track event at a world championship.
Addressing a press conference here, OIL CMD Utpal Borah said, "Hima Das has done the nation proud with her achievements, defeating many hurdles along the way. As a token of our appreciation, OIL will grant Rs 20 lakh to Hima for her training."
"Right now, she is training abroad. When she returns homes (to Dhing, in Assam), OIL will present her with the amount," he added.
Besides the one-time grant to Hima, OIL has been providing monthly scholarship of Rs 17,000 each to two Table Tennis players and one cricketer of Assam, the CMD said.
Along with encouraging sporting talents, OIL is also engaged in providing coaching facilities for engineering studies aspirants, Borah said.
He said, "We have six centres under a 'Super 30' project, where we provide rigorous coaching to brilliant students of poor families to compete for top engineering colleges.
We have six such centres at present, of which four are in Assam and one each in Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan".
A cost of Rs 2.5 lakh is incurred per month per student under the 'Super 30' project, with total Rs 16 crore spent so far for it.
"Moreover, OIL also has scholarship and merit awards schemes, other schemes for rural, farmers and women's empowerment, among others, under our CSR activities," the CMD said.
He added that OIL has been spending 3 to 4 per cent of its profit after tax for CSR activities, though the law stipulates the need for spending 2 per cent for such activities.