KOCHI: It’s been over a fortnight since the National Green Tribunal(NGT) gave the green signal to the public sector IOC to continue its work at the LPG Import Terminal at Puthuvype.
But with the protesters adamant on disrupting the work and the state government yet to make up its mind, the uncertainty over the multi-crore project continues.In a bid to find an amicable solution to the vexatious issue, Industries Minister AC Moideen has convened a meeting of all the stakeholders, including senior IOC officers and protesters, in Thiruvananthapuram next week. Though the date of the meeting is yet to be finalised, sources said the crucial discussions are likely to take place on Wednesday (January 10).
Senior officers from the IOC head office in New Delhi have also sought an appointment with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday to apprise him of the national importance of the project, sources said. The work on the LPG Import Terminal has been stalled since February 16 last year(324 days). Considering the IOC’s daily loss on account of this is `1 crore, the total estimated loss suffered by the oil marketing major till now comes to over Rs 300 crore.
The implementation of the project will also see Rs 600 crore dispersed as wages to the construction workers, IOC sources said. “Every month there is a road accident involving an LPG tanker in north Kerala. About 100 LPG bullet tankers snake through the narrow roads of the state every day carrying bulk LPG. Once the terminal is constructed and the pipeline from Kochi to Salem is laid, a good number of these tankers will go off the road thereby improving the safety on the state’s roads,” said a senior IOC officer.
Kerala has seen two major road accidents involving LPG tankers - one in 2009 at Karunagapally and another one on December 31, 2010 at Chala near Kannur. Nearly 30 people lost their lives in the two accidents. “These kind of road accidents can be avoided once the pipeline project is executed,” said the officer. Rejecting the protesters’ claims Kerala is self-sufficient in LPG, the IOC officer said 50 per cent of the LPG needs of the country are met by imports. “LPG grew at 11 per cent in 2016-17, and 72 per cent of the households in the country are covered by LPG.
This is expected to touch 95 per cent in 2022. In such a scenario, it is necessary to enhance the infrastructure across the country. The IOC is constructing the world’s longest LPG pipeline (2828 km) from Mundra to Gorakhpur to meet this demand. Import terminals have been set up along the coast at Ennore, Vizag, Mumbai, Haldia, Paradeep, Mangaluru and Kandla. Kochi is the newest one. The people of Kerala have always been proud of their nationalist sentiments and they should not resort to parochialism now,” said the officer.