Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said on Wednesday that the oil refinery project at Paradip will be made operational by the end of 2013 notwithstanding the labour problems and frequent strikes by labour unions.
“With an overall progress of 88 per cent and over 70 per cent construction works complete, the company is confident of commissioning the project by next year-end,” IOC Executive Director Vijayvargia told mediapersons after a meeting with Chief Secretary BK Patnaik and other senior officers.
Admitting that the ` 29,052-crore project is facing certain operational problems, including shortage of workers, Vijayvargia said the State Government had promised to sort out the issues. However, the law and order situation has improved to a certain extent. About 3.5 lakh mandays of productivity have been lost due to strike and other agitations at the refinery site, he added.
Expressing concern over the activities of some trade unions and cooperative bodies, the IOC delegation reportedly requested the Government to verify their antecedents as they used to create problems.
The six-member IOC delegation told the meeting that the police station set up at Abhaychandpur is not sufficient to face the situation.
The Home Secretary assured IOC to upgrade the police station by deploying more police personnel for enforcing better law and order in the project area.
Revenue Divisional Commissioner (central division) Arabinda Padhee said the IOC delegation drew the attention of the Government towards law and order situation in Paradip area. The refinery had already utilised ` 17,280 crore which is around 57 per cent of the approved cost.
The Chief Secretary said IOC had been asked to expedite activities under corporate social responsibility (CSR) to win the confidence of local people.
Meanwhile, IOC has estimated an expenditure of ` 269 lakh during 2012-13 towards the community development activities.
The central PSU had during 2011-12 spent only ` 154 lakh under CSR activities, official sources said. The State Government also apprised the IOC delegation that it had taken steps for forest clearance required for the project.
The progress of the work regarding construction of Paradip-Raipur-Ranchi Pipeline Project also figured in the meeting. Out of the total 1,065 km of this pipeline about 657 km runs through Odisha.