No end to troubles for Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation

GANDHINAGAR: There seems to be no end to the trouble of the state PSU, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC). Under fire from activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal for an alleged scam of Rs 20,000 crores for its offshore gas exploration in KG Basin, off Andhra coast, the premier bluechip company is now facing the ire of the Andhra Pradesh government for failing to take forest and wildlife clearance.
It has asked GSPC executives to "stop work" of laying down a crucial submarine pipeline to take gas from KG Basin to its onshore gas terminal (OGT) via an area which is 10 km of the Corianga sanctuary without necessary clearances. It asks them to explain "why action shouldn't be taken" for violating forest and wildlife laws.
A senior Sachivalaya official said, senior GSPC officials as also its highly-paid technical advisors "only took environmental clearance" and thought it was "enough". After nearly two years, they have found that it was not enough, and that forest and wildlife clearance, under their respective Central laws, would also need to be taken, without which KG Basin gas cannot reach OGT. "Hectic preparations are on to prepare papers", the official said, adding, "The delay in failing to take necessary clearances will mean commercial production of KG Basin gas will have to be postponed by at least 18 months." The notice to "stop work" was delivered after GSPC failed to respond to two earlier warnings.
The work for the Rs 2,000 crore OGT is under progress at Mallavaram, and nearly 30 per cent of it is complete. Under instructions of chief minister Narendra Modi, the work has been on fast track with the expectation that ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, GSPC would go into full-scale commercial operation. This would help neutralize some of the criticism being levelled against GSPC for creating hype around the KG operations, where instead of the prematurely announced 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas only 2 tcf was found. Nobody knows how much of the 2 tcf is actually recoverable. Meanwhile, GSPC is in search of a foreign partner who can help make maximum utilization of the KG gas.
Three clearances are crucial for a project of this dimension - environmental under a1982 Act, forest under another 1980 Act, and wildlife clearance under 1972 Act. "Gujarat forest and environment department was not consulted. It could have guided GSPC on the clearances needed to be taken", the official said, adding, "The result was, GSPC executives just 'forgot' to take the other two crucial clearances. GSPC executives should have known that the project of laying down the pipeline would first go for state wildlife board for Andhra nod, then the national wildlife board, and finally the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee."
Officials are also of the view that the GSPC went in for "unnecessary haste" for building OGT at a time when another facility could be hired for less than one-tenth of the cost. GSPC managing-director Tapan Ray was not available for comment.