After a month-long-hiatus, former Rajasthan CM is back with posh promises and tall claims. This time, Ashok Gehlot opened his complaint box against Raje government regarding a newly-signed MoU on Barmer Refinery—a sore topic for former CM Gehlot. According to senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, the impending Barmer refinery project will fetch more losses than profits for Rajasthan.
Slamming Raje-led BJP government for their ‘4-year-delay’ in this project, Ashok Gehlot said that though BJP claims to have saved Rs 40,000 crores on this deal, the losses incurred due to this delay is far more than the amount saved by the government. Perhaps Gehlot forgot about the ‘delay’ caused in his tenure when he was adamant at shifting the refinery from Leelala in Baytoo to Pachpadra (near his hometown in Jodhpur).
Gehlot’s decision invited wrath of Congress MLA Colonel Sona Ram as well as the locals who launched massive protests against Ashok Gehlot. Due to Gehlot’s lack of vision, the refinery was postponed to a later date. Though we fail to understand as to how the refinery would’ve been a ‘profitable deal’ for Rajasthan had it not been delayed till date? Gehlot didn’t provide any explanation in context with the MoU signed under the supervision of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
- Why didn’t Congress charge money on leasing state resources and land to HPCL representatives?
- Why did Congress give consent to an interest-free loan when they could’ve charged a nominal interest on the loan amount?
- Why didn’t Congress demand a greater share in annual profit turnover?
- Why didn’t Congress negotiate with HPCL representatives to bring down the IRR (that was 15%)?
When Raje rose to power in 2013, a fresh MoU for Barmer Refinery was signed between Raje government and HPCL representatives. As opposed to former Congress government that signed an agreement sanctioning an interest-free loan worth Rs 56,040 crores to HPCL, Raje-led BJP government brought down the loan amount to Rs 43,129 crores. To top it, they’ve revised the excise amount and conditions for loan approval. In short, the government saved up to Rs 40,000 crores on this deal.
The relocation of refinery from Barmer to Pachpadra seemed shady, considering that Jodhpur had been a centre of corruption and illegal property deals in Rajasthan during Gehlot’s tenure. Union Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan termed it a hasty decision made by Gehlot in his election year. Considering that 2013 Rajasthan elections were around the corner, Congress laid the foundation of this project without obtaining required clearance from government authorities.
In last three years, the opposition tried to corner the BJP government in Barmer refinery case, but they weren’t aware that BJP government is in conversation with HPCL for renegotiation. The government has set a fixed deadline for completion of Barmer refinery project. Hopefully, the project will start in a few days from now. Once completed, the project will provide stable job opportunities to 4 lakh youths in Rajasthan.
