BHUBANESWAR: Launching his final salvo against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ahead of the simultaneous elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday the Centre-aided projects worth `1.36 lakh crore are hanging fire due to non-cooperation by the State Government.
Listing out major projects sanctioned by the Centre which remain a non-starter, Pradhan said projects worth `56,563 crore in road, transport and highways, `51,395 crore in petroleum and natural gas, `15,413 crore in non-petroleum, `12,286 crore in rail infrastructure, `560 crore in health and education and `200 crore in tourism and heritage sectors could not be executed due to lack of land and grant of statutory clearances from the State.
Lack of land parcels continues to be a stumbling block to Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOCL) expansion plans its refinery at Paradip and textile park project in Bhadrak district.
Seeking an explanation from the Chief Minister for his Government’s callousness to the Central projects under the BJP’s ‘Jabab Maguchi Odisha’ progamme, Pradhan said the apathy of the State Government to all developmental projects under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Purvodaya programme stems from the fear that the PM will take all credit.
Coming down heavily on the State Government for its lack of support to the Central push for a big development in the State, the Union Minister said he had to cancel a meeting convened to review the status of big tickets projects under ‘Pragati’ due to non-participation of officers of the State Government.
“I have called a meeting with the Chief Secretary here today. My office had duly informed the Chief Secretary in writing about the time and venue of the meeting. Unfortunetely, he did not rurn up to the meeting,” Pradhan said.
Since a large number of projects of various union ministries are hanging in the balance due to some problems or other, today’s meeting was important. The Union Minister and officials of GAIL and NHAI waited for long and had to cancel as Chief Secretary AP Padhi did not turn up for the same.
May be the Chief Secretary was busy for some important work. But, courtesy demands that he could have informed about his non-availability well in advance, Pradhan remarked.
While IOCL request to the State Government for 2,290 acres of additional land for its petrochemical units entailing an investment of `51,779 crore is pending for approval for over a year, Pradhan said Taiwan’s proposal to invest `43,000 crore in green-field petrochemical projects in Paradip is yet to get a positive response from the ruling BJD.
He once again accused the Chief Minister of conspiring to derail the `7,500 crore coastal highway project.