Pradhan Fires Fresh Salvo At Naveen; Accuses Non-Cooperation For New Bottling Plant In Khurda

Bhubaneswar: A few days after they traded charges against each other at separate events here, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has fired a fresh salvo against Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing the State Government of delay in land allocation for an IOCL bottling plant in Khurda district.

In a letter to the CM on Friday, Pradhan highlighted the benefits the plant would bring to the consumers but regretted that the alleged “non-cooperation attitude” of the State Government would ultimately affect the common people of the state.

“I request you to kindly intervene with the concerned authorities in this matter and direct them for issuing necessary permission so that work on this important project can commence immediately,” the Petroleum Minister said.

IOCL has proposed three new bottling plants in the State at Balangir, Rayagada and Khurda at an investment of Rs 403 crore. The plants would help IOCL cater to the ever increasing demand of the state where LPG connection has gone up from 19 lakh in 2014 to 72.5 lakh in 2018 with a total LPG coverage of 69 per cent, the Minister said.

He said that the Shree Jagannath Temple Trust had offered 32 acre at Somnathpur village in Khurda district in March 2016 and IOCL had deposited the entire amount of 28.8 crore in March 2017. The project has also received environmental clearance and has got the nod of the State Government in December 2017 under the single window clearance initiative. Yet the administration has failed to hand over the land.

The latest attack on Patnaik followed a bitter attack by the leaders against each other on Wednesday, setting the stage for heated campaign ahead of the assembly and Lok Sabha polls next year.

While Naveen accused the Centre of step-motherly attitude towards Odisha, Pradhan accused his government of being neck deep in corruption and failing to utilise central funds.

He also took on the Chief Minister and dismissed his allegations that beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjawal Yojana (PMUY) scheme have been left high and dry as the gas cylinders were not be refilled.

In his letter to the CM, Pradhan mentioned that there were 35 lakh beneficiaries under PMUY in Odisha. He said that IOCL has also commissioned eastern India’s first LPG pipeline with a cost of Rs 365 crore between Paradip-Balasore-Haldia to supply bulk LPG in Odisha.