By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/HALDIA/BHUBANESWAR: The PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Haldia, West Bengal and dedicated to the nation the LPG import terminal, 348 km Dobhi – Durgapur Natural Gas Pipeline section, which is part of the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project. He also laid the foundation stone of the second Catalytic-Isodewaxing unit of Haldia Refinery and dedicated to the nation the 4 Lane ROB-cum-Flyover at Ranichak, Haldia on NH 41. The Event was attended by the Governor of West Bengal and Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan among others.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that today is a big day for West Bengal and entire Eastern India in terms of AatmNirbharta of connectivity and availability of clean fuel. The four projects will improve both ease of living and ease of doing business in the region. These projects will also help Haldia to grow into a major hub of export-import.
The Prime Minister stressed that gas-based economy is the need of the hour for India. One nation-one gas grid is an important step for meeting this need. For this, focus is on reducing cost of natural gas and expanding gas-pipeline network. Our efforts have led to a situation where India is among the highest gas consuming nations. Hydrogen Mission was announced in the budget to promote cheap and clean energy.
The Prime Minister listed works in rail, road, airport, ports, waterways to improve the quality of life and business in Eastern India. He pointed out that scarcity of gas was leading to closure of industry in the region. In order to remedy this, a decision was taken to connect eastern India with the eastern and western ports. Pradhan Mantri Urja ganga Pipeline, a big part of which was dedicated today, is part of that project. 350 km Dobhi-Durgapur Pipeline will directly benefit not only West Bengal but also 10 districts of Bihar and Jharkhand. The Construction work provided 11 lakh man days employment to locals. This will also provide clean piped LPG to the kitchens and enable clean CNG vehicles. Sindri and Durgapur Fertilizer factories will get continuous gas supply. The Prime Minister asked GAIL and West Bengal to quickly finish Durgapur-Haldia section of Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline.
As Ujjawala Scheme has resulted in much higher coverage and demand for LPG in the region, work is on for improving LPG infrastructure in the region. 90 lakh free LPG connections were given to women in West Bengal which include more than 36 lakh women belonging to SC/ST category. In last six years LPG coverage in West Bengal jumped from 41 per cent to 99 per cent. This year’s Budget has proposed 1 crore more free gas connection under Ujjwala Scheme. LPG import terminal of Haldia will play a big role in meeting the high demand as it will serve crores of families in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Northeast as more than 2 crore people will get gas from here out of which 1 crore will be beneficiary of Ujjwala scheme.
The Prime Minister also said that as part of our commitment for clean fuel, work on capacity augmentation of BS-6 fuel plant was started today. This second Catalytic Dewaxing Unit will reduce our dependence on import with regard to lube-based oils. “We are moving towards a situation where we will be able to create export capacity” said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister asserted that the central government is working tirelessly to develop West Bengal as a major trading and industrial centre. For this port-led development is a good model. Many steps have been taken to modernize Kolkata’s Syama Prasad Mookerjee PortTrust. The Prime Minister also called for strengthening the Haldia Dock Complex’s capacity and connectivity with the neighboring countries. The new flyover and proposed Multi-Modal Terminal of Inland Waterways authority will improve the connectivity. “This will lead to emergence of Haldia as a center of immense energy for AatmNirbhar India” Concluded the Prime Minister.
