Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik has questioned the contest between BJP and BJD to take credit for the establishment of the IOCl Refinery at Paradip scheduled for inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 7. “What is their real contributionIJ” asked the former Minister.
“The idea of setting up the port-based oil refinery in Odisha was first mooted by the Congress Government in 1985 when I was the Industry Minister and implemented after 1995 when Congress returned to power.”
A team of State officials under the Industry Minister had visited Mumbai in 1985 and had held discussions with Reliance, Hinduja and other prospective investors. The Union Government was also requested for investment by the Indian Oil Corporation. The State Government’s effort had borne fruit and two proposals for port-based oil refineries had materialized. The first was to be established by a private investor near Gopalpur Port and the second by IOCl near Paradip Port. The private company withdrew later. During 1995-98 the Central Government agreed for IOCl to invest and land acquisition commenced.
The IOCl wanted the same patch of land that has now been acquired by the State Government for the Posco plant. “After visiting the identified land and discussing with local people and prominent leaders like lokanath Choudhuri, Damodar Rout and Bijaya Naik, I had told the then Chief Minister JB Patnaik that the acquisition of the land will go against farmers’ interest and there will be a lot of opposition, which can cause delay.”
IOCl had threatened to pull out if the land identified was not handed over to them. They had, in fact, shelved the entire proposal for nearly six months. The Central Government had also put a lot of pressure on the State. But, because of a clear view and foresight of the State Government, alternative land was selected and handed over. If the present Government had shown similar foresight, Posco project would not have failed, he said.
After the land was handed over, the IOCl had started work. The State Government had requested then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to lay the foundation stone, but the ceremony was delayed. Finally Vajpayee laid the foundation stone in 2002. But, very little money was made available for the establishment of the refinery and instead the refinery capacity was curtailed. It is only under UPA that the necessary finances were made available and the project took off, he said.
“The project was initiated by the Congress Government in the State, land was acquired by then State Government and finances for constructing the refinery were provided by the UPA Government at the Centre,” said Patnaik lamenting that now the BJP and the BJD want to take credit for it.