DHENKANAL: Dhenkanal district has been included in the ambitious city gas project in Odisha, said Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan here on Sunday.
Addressing mediapersons at the circuit house in the presence of BJP leaders, Pradhan said the pipeline laying work for the project will be started from October in Dhenkanal. The project will enable supply of CNG and PNG gas to urban areas from Dhamra through Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Angul, Deogarh and other districts of the State, he said, adding the initiative will bring down the cost of cooking and automobile gas. Pradhan said the city gas project is being implemented in 86 cities across the country.
Prasdah said in a bid to address the drinking water crisis in the district, an amount of `18 crore will soon be released by ONGC for a project which will be implemented in Joranda and Kaluria gram panchayats. “All documents related to the project have been submitted to the State Government and the authorities concerned have been instructed to expedite the work”, he said, adding the drinking water project will benefit residents of 14 villages in the district.
The project envisages drawing water from Brahmani river and treating it at a plant with 2.5 MLD capacity. Pradhan said a fertiliser plant, scheduled to be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22, will provide employment opportunities to youths from the district. The plant, a joint venture between GAIL, Coal India and Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilisers Limited will be set up at a cost of `13,000 crore.
The Union Minister said NTPC plant at Gajmara in the district will start functioning soon. He accused the State Government of deliberately delaying the project.