Hon'ble Minister of State (I/C), P&NG lays Foundation Stone of Indane LPG Bottling Plant in Gorakhpur
New Delhi 12-Jan-2015
Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge),
Petroleum & Natural Gas, addressing the gathering on the occasion
after laying foundation stone of Indane LPG Bottling Plant.
IndianOil, the leading petroleum company will commission Indane LPG Bottling Plant in Gorakhpur for increasing the penetration and availability of LPG in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Chief Guest, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India laid the foundation stone in the presence of Mahant Yogi Mr. Adityanathji Maharaj, Special Guest, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, Gorakhpur at Village - Judiyan, GIDA, Sector - 15, Gorakhpur.
The LPG Bottling Plant, being set up at an investment of approximately Rs. 151 crore will roll out close to 36,000 filled LPG cylinders per day amounting to 120 truck loads per day. The capacity will go a long way in improving availability of LPG cylinders in this part of the State. The plant commissioning will definitely ensure adequate availability of cleaner and affordable cooking fuel LPG, in every nook and corner of Gorakhpur, Mau, Balia, Ajamgarh, Kushi Nagar, Gonda, Deoria, Basti, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharth Nagar districts.
The plant commissioning will definitely ensure adequate availability of cleaner and affordable cooking fuel LPG, in every nook and corner of Gorakhpur, Mau, Balia, Ajamgarh, Kushi Nagar, Gonda, Deoria, Basti, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharth Nagar districts.
Addressing the gathering Mr. Pradhan said, "Right at the start of the year, it gives me immense pleasure to lay the foundation stone for IndianOil’s LPG bottling plant, with state-of-the-art facilities at Village Judiyan in the holy city of Gorakhpur. The plant will not only improve supply of LPG in Eastern Uttar Pradesh but also generate opportunities for indirect employment by way of handling, loading and unloading personnel and transport crew. In addition, it will also provide livelihood through sundry shops, maintenance workshops, ancillary units, dhabas, etc."
He further said, "India currently has 15.3 crore LPG-consuming households. Uttar Pradesh has 1.83 crore active LPG consumers and that LPG demand in the State is met by 25 bottling plants with a network of over 2,200 LPG distributorships. The penetration of LPG in Gorakhpur district is about 50%".
He also informed that the Government is committed to making available cost-effective energy to the citizens of India in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner. He said that the PAHAL scheme was launched for Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL), initially in 54 districts on 15th November 2014, and then in the rest of the country on 1st January, 2015. The scheme is expected to cover 15.3 crore active LPG consumers in the country, and is the biggest direct cash transfer scheme in the world.
"Yet another initiative, which MOP&NG pursuing vigorously, is to offer concession to BPL families living in urban areas to avail of LPG cooking gas connections under the expanded Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme. Under this scheme, all BPL families will be getting LPG connections without payment of the security deposit for the cylinder and pressure regulator. This would mean a concession of Rs. 1600/- per LPG connection per family. The scheme will benefit BPL families in urban areas by making a clean fuel affordable and accessible to them" he said.
He also said that an attempt has been made to make LPG available to people such as migrant labourers, students, IT professionals and others who cannot produce proof-of-residence due to frequent shifting from one place to another; and for such category of people, sale of 5kg cylinders at market rates through various outlets has been launched.
He said that the price of diesel has been de-regulated for all consumers and the price has gone down by about Rs. 11 per litre from its desired selling price in July till now. This initiative is expected to result in greater competition amongst oil companies and improved service for the benefit of the consumers.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. A. N. Jha, ED (LPG), HO said that the commissioning of the plant would bring great relief to the people of this area as the proposed installed capacity will be adequate to ensure easy availability of cylinders and the provision has also been kept for future expansion of the plant’s capacity at a later date by installing additional carousels, as and when required.
Mr. U. P. Singh, GM, UPSO-I proposed vote of thank on behalf of the Corporation and conveyed his gratitude towards the dignitaries who made it convenient to attend the function by sparing their valuable time.
The foundation laying ceremony was graced by Mr. Rajesh Pandey, Hon'ble MP, Kushi Nagar, Mr. Kamlesh Paswan, Hon'ble MP, Bansgaon, Mr. Pankaj Chaudhari, Hon'ble MP, Maharajganj, Mr. Ravindra Kushwah, Hon'ble MP, Salempur and Dr. Neeraj Mittal, IAS, Joint Secretary (Marketing), MOP&NG.
