LPG connection in Odisha rises to 62pc households: Pradhan

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said LPG connection in Odisha has risen to 62 per cent households from 20 per cent, when the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre in 2014.

"While LPG connection in Odisha households was only 20 per cent in 2014, now it has risen to 62 per cent as the Narendra Modi government is sincerely working for development and uplift of the poor," Pradhan said.

The minister was addressing a meeting at Hidigaon in Balasore district on the occasion of inauguration of the Balasore Pump Station, associated facilities of the PHBPL Crude Oil Pipeline Augmentation Project, the Paradip-Balasore section of the PHD LPG Pipeline and 2nd Carousal of the LPG Bottling Plant at Balasore.

During the last four years of NDA rule, LPG connectivity has increased from 19 per cent to 60 per cent in Balasore district, while in Keonjhar district, it has gone up from 15 per cent to 45 per cent, and from 9 per cent to 34 per cent in Mayurbhanj, he said.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has its largest crude oil handling facility of 37 MMTPA in the east coast of India at Paradip with 3 Single Point Mooring System, which are installed in deep sea at a distance of 21 km from the shore.

The PHBPL Pipeline is acting as the energy highway to entire eastern and north-eastern region, supplying crude oil to five refineries - Paradip, Haldia, Barauni, Bongaigaon and Guwahati.

Paradip has one of the biggest crude oil storage facilities with 31 storage tanks of 60,000 kilolitres each. The newly-constructed Balasore Pump Station will play a key role in feeding all those refineries, Pradhan said.

For augmentation of PHBPL, IOC has invested Rs 586 crore in four states--Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, of which Rs 321 crore was in Odisha alone.