JAJPUR: Dharmasala MLA Himanshu Sekhar Sahoo on Saturday alleged a conspiracy by the previous BJD government to ensure the strategic crude oil reserve project at Dankari is never implemented.
He alleged the previous government had tried to change the site of the project. “The previous BJD government under various pretexts was delaying the implementation of the project on the foothills of Dankari under Dharmasala block,” he said while hinting at involvement of the black stone mafia in the issue. Sahoo blamed the then Dharmasala legislator Pranab Balabantray for delaying the project deliberately for his vested interest. In a letter, he sought Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s intervention to start the project.
The strategic crude oil reserve was proposed by the Union government in 2016. While Rs 6,500 crore was proposed to be spent on the project, the then Union Finance minster Arun Jaitley allocated funds for the same in the 2016 budget.
A team of officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had visited the proposed site and identified 400 acre land on the foothills of Dankari for the underground rock cavern in September, 2016. The state government had ordered permanent closure of the black stone quarries operating near the site to pave way for the project.
However, the local tehsildar had pointed out that the government would lose revenue of around Rs 1,413.86 crore if the quarries in Dankari are closed. The proposed 3.7 million MT depot at Dankari would have stored crude oil stock for 90-100 days to meet requirements during emergencies.