BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das on Sunday demanded the Centre to expedite work for establishment of the crude oil reserve facility at Chandikhol in Jajpur district, which has been stalled for the last over eight years.
Das said an MoU signed between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit recently has opened up possibility of implementation of the eight-year-old project at Chandikhol.
Stating that the underground oil storage project was approved by the Union cabinet on June 27, 2018 at a cost of Rs 8,743 crore, with a planned capacity of 4 million metric tonne, he asked why was it not implemented for so long.
“The state government had acquired around 400 acre in the Dankari hill area for the project. However till now, landowners have not been properly compensated, leading to public discontentment,” he alleged.
The OPCC president further demanded that market price for the land be paid to the land losers by the government before implementation of the project. “Steps should also be taken by the government and project authorities to control pollution which will arise once the project is set up,” he said.