Balotra, Rajasthan: A fire swept through the Pachpadra refinery site in Rajasthan’s Balotra district on Monday just hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to inaugurate the facility, billowing thick plumes of black smoke into the sky.
Preliminary reports pinpoint the origin of the blaze to the CDU (Crude Distillation Unit) section of the under-construction facility. Dozens of fire tenders from Neemrana, Behror, and local stations rushed to the Pachpadra refinery to tackle the blaze. Staff triggered on-site systems, evacuated workers, and teamed with police, civil defense, and responders to douse it, reports said.
Officials called it a “minor” incident — controlled without casualties or inauguration delays.
This landmark greenfield integrated Refinery-cum-Petrochemical Complex marks a key partnership between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Rajasthan government, designed with state-of-the-art sustainable technology.
The project’s foundation stone was laid on September 22, 2013, by Sonia Gandhi during the Ashok Gehlot-led government’s tenure, with an initial investment pegged at Rs 37,230 crore. After a political shift in the state, Prime Minister Modi relaunched the stalled initiative on January 16, 2018, revising the total cost to Rs 43,129 crore amid enhanced scope and inflation adjustments.
Apart from essential fuels like petrol, diesel, and aviation kerosene, the refinery will churn out large-scale downstream petrochemical products.
