In his first pub­lic ad­dress as the chair­man of the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NCG) Dr Joseph Khan has laud­ed the sac­ri­fices and sup­port of the fam­i­lies and loved ones of his staff and the ef­forts of the staff them­selves.

Khan made the com­ments as Na­tion­al En­er­gy host­ed its Di­vali cel­e­bra­tion ti­tled “An Evening of Il­lu­mi­na­tion” on be­half of the NGC Group at its head of­fice com­pound at Fac­to­ry and Rivulet Roads, Cou­va.

The cel­e­bra­tion, the first in-per­son event for the NGC Group in two years, was at­tend­ed by more than 200 em­ploy­ees, their fam­i­lies and oth­er stake­hold­ers.

“The strength of the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny comes from the hard work­ing men and women who en­sure day af­ter day that the coun­try con­tin­ues to get a re­li­able sup­ply of nat­ur­al gas and con­tin­ue to con­tribute pos­i­tive­ly to the growth and fu­ture de­vel­op­ment of the coun­try as we tran­si­tion in­to a fu­ture that is low car­bon and sus­tain­able and of course for the ben­e­fit of all the gen­er­a­tions to come,” Khan said.

Khan how­ev­er said the ef­forts of the staff would not be pos­si­ble with­out their sup­port sys­tems.

“Our staff re­ly on you their fam­i­lies for sup­port on a dai­ly ba­sis and even though it may not be said of­ten enough we are thank­ful for the sac­ri­fices you made for your spous­es, your child, your par­ents, your rel­a­tives, your loved ones to con­tin­ue to con­tribute to the NGC and its fu­ture,” he said.

Pres­i­dent of Na­tion­al En­er­gy Dr Ver­non Pal­too said Di­vali fo­cus­es on fam­i­ly.

“The oc­ca­sion of Di­vali is is per­haps one of the most sig­nif­i­cant in the Hin­du cal­en­dar. It is time to re­flect on the bless­ings that have been be­stowed up­on us.

“It is a time for em­pha­sis­ing the shar­ing of joy and love with our fam­i­lies and friends and more im­por­tant­ly it is a time when man en­light­ened the world by his own ac­tions

Pal­too said the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has and con­tin­ues to take so much that is dear to us.

But Di­vali is a re­minder that light con­quers all dark­ness.

“An Evening of Il­lu­mi­na­tion the theme for this year’s event was cho­sen to re­mind us of our abil­i­ty to be the light in our homes, com­mu­ni­ties and our coun­try.

“May each light­ed deya this evening em­pow­er us to dis­pel ig­no­rance, in­tol­er­ance and de­spair with the knowl­edge that our in­ner bril­liance will out­shine any dark­ness in our lives,” Pal­too said.