Govt aims to provide fuel to each household: Murli Deora
merisarkar news service
New Delhi, December 25, 2010
Fuel to every household: Deora
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday asserted that despite India being on of the largest consumer of oil and gas in the world, the government is committed to provide fuel to each household in the country.
He was speaking at the occasion of dedication of Haldia Refinery's new Hydrocracker Unit & higher refinery capacity by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
S Sundareshan, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and B M Bansal, Chairman, Indian Oil were also present on the occasion among other dignitaries.
Lauding the oil companies efforts in achieving success in fuel supply, the Minister said, "I am proud to say that they have created huge infrastructure across the country for supply of fuel from Kashmir to kanyakumari and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to remotest part of north eastern region."
OMCs supply domestic LPG cylinder to more than 12 crore customers at their door step. He said that with India's economy projected to grow at a rapid pace over the next two decades, demand for oil and gas is expected to increase significantly. He recalled that how from just just one small refinery of half million metric tonnes capacity at Digboi in 1947, over the decades several refineries have been built up.
"Today India has become a hub of refining facilities. During 2009-10, domestic refining capacity has been augmented to 185 million tonnes per annum," Mr. Derora said.
Murli Deora informed that new refineries are under construction at Bina in Madhya Pradesh, Bhatinda in Punjab and Paradeep in Orissa and said after commissioning of these refineries, the refining capacity is expected to reach 238 MMTPA by the end of 2011-12.
He said in order to provide clean cooking fuel to rural areas and to achieve vision of 75 per cent of population with domestic LPG supplies in the country, Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitran Yojana was launched in March 2010 for setting up small size LPG Distribution agencies in rural areas.
Making special reference of West Bengal, the Minister said, "needs of rural people of the state is uppermost in minds of Government."
"I am told that only 38 per cent of population of West Bengal are covered by LPG. Our target is to increase to 60 per cent by 2015," he said.
