Gehlot Urges Modi for Barmer Refinery Approvals

Jaipur, Dec 7 (PTI) Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the PMO to issue all approvals related to the Barmer refinery.

Modi will inaugurate the Rising Rajasthan investment summit in Jaipur on Monday.

Raising issues related to approvals for the Barmer refinery, Gehlot said in a post on X, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Jaipur for the Rising Rajasthan programme. I request him, in the interest of Rajasthan, to direct the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) to issue all the permissions related to the Barmer refinery."

"When I held a progress review meeting of the work at the Barmer refinery on June 2, 2023, the refinery administration had assured to start commercial production from December 31, 2024, but now there is no possibility of the work being completed by this date," he said in Hindi.

A Petroleum Chemicals and Petro Investment Region (PC-PIR) was to be developed between Barmer and Jodhpur for products made from byproducts of the refinery, and all kinds of industries were to be set up for this, the former chief minister said.


"Our government had taken the work forward by allocating land for this in 2021 but, after the new BJP government assumed power, work on the PC-PIR has come to a complete standstill. Despite the so-called 'double-engine' government, the government of India has kept pending the necessary permissions for the PC-PIR," he added.

Due to the permission being pending, all byproducts from the refinery will be processed in other states even after it starts functioning, the Congress veteran claimed.

There was an expectation that the PC-PIR would lead to 1.5 lakh new jobs being created but that now seems to be fading, he alleged.

"The public has not forgotten that during the previous BJP dispensation, work on the refinery was kept pending for five years, due to which its construction cost almost doubled from Rs 40,000 crore and unnecessary financial burden was put on the state government," Gehlot said.

Now, due to unnecessary delay in the work of PC-PIR, industries will move to other states and potential employment opportunities for youngsters will also end, he claimed.