Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Paradip oil refinery would be the “Vikash Deep” and “Bhagya Deep” of crores of Odia people.
“The Paradip Refinery will help change the fortune of the people. More than 3,000 acres of land on which the refinery stands will become the job avenues of lakhs of poor,” Modi said addressing a massive gathering after dedicating the Indian Oil Corporation limited’s (IOCl) refinery here to the nation.
The refinery at Paradip would produce 78 crore kg of lPG, 500 crore kg of petrol, 680 crore kg of diesel and 120 lakh quintals of petroleum coke, he said.
Praising Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his effort in providing lPG connectivity, the PM said, “As many as 11 lakh poor families in Odisha have got lPG connection within a period of one year.”
Modi did not forget to criticise the Congress, which claims that UPA Government had begun the project. “My friends from Congress used to take credit saying at the time of inauguration that they had begun the project. We should try to bring a new work culture where projects are conceived in time and completed on time”, Modi remarked.
Modi, who began his speech in Odia saying “Jai Jagannath”, remembered the luminaries of Odisha like Biju Patnaik, Nabakrushna Choudhury, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, Utkalgaurab Madhusudan Das and Dr Pranakrushana Parija for their contributions to modern Odisha.
The 15-million-tonne-per-annum Paradip Refinery constructed at an investment of about Rs 35,000 crore, whose foundation stone had been laid by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had on May 24, 2000, was inaugurated in the presence of Governor SC Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram and State Excise Minister Damodar Rout,.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the Paradip Refinery would revolutionise the energy scenario in the entire eastern region.
He further observed that a cracker complex by the IOCl is essential for development of the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals Investment Region.
Drawing the attention of the Prime Minister, Patnaik said the IOCl had announced four projects in 2014 of which work on one project has commenced. The IOCl should also start work on the other three projects, he said.
Representatives of Bangladesh and Sri lanka were also present at the ceremony.
The Paradip Refinery is one of the most modern ones in the world which can process cheaper high sulphur heavy crude oils. It is a complexity factor of 12.2.
It will produce 5.6 million tonnes per annum of diesel, 3.79 million tonnes of petrol and 1.96 million tonnes of kerosene/ATF. Besides, 790,000 tonnes of lPG and 1.21 million tonnes of petroleum coke would also be produced, officials said.