CS visits Pachpadra refinery to sort ‘issues’

Jodhpur: With BJP and Congress both attempting to take credit for Barmer’s Pachpadra refinery, chief secretary Sudhansh Pant visited the project site on Tuesday to hold a review meeting with officials of the refinery and the district administration. Since 2013, when its foundation stone was laid by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the project has undergone multiple delays, escalating its cost to Rs 72,000 crore. Pant, who arrived in Jodhpur on Monday, told the media he was visiting the site to address issues related to the Pachpadra refinery project and the upcoming petrochemical complex there. The senior bureaucrat’s visit to poll-bound Barmer raised eyebrows as polling for the constituency is to be held on April 26 and the model code of conduct is in place. Pant, however, descibed his visit as a “routine meeting to review an ongoing project”, permissible under the model code. Locals said the bureaucrat’s visit was significant as there were apprehensions that Rajasthan’s stake in the project may be reduced after it missed its commissioning deadline of March 2024. In his visit to Panchpadra last year, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri had said the state govt did not agree to bear its share of expenditure on the refinery project, a decision that might lead to the reduction of the state govt’s stake in the project. The project is a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Government of Rajasthan (GOR), with each holding stakes of 74% and 26% respectively. Puri said that in case Raj was unable to pay up its share, its stake would go down from 26% to 16%.Pant, without specifying which concern he would address during his visit, said efforts will be made to ensure that the project is completed and commissioned this year. “Our efforts are to complete the project this year. Not only this project, but work on the petrochemical complex also has to be completed,” he said.Former CM Ashok Gehlot has persistently held BJP responsible for the delay.

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