Rajasthan Refinery Work Commencement Ceremony

Refinery is the Biggest win of Rajasthan and Rajasthanis- CM

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has said that the petroleum refinery in Barmer will not only change the fate and future of Rajasthan, but will bestow energy to the entire country. He said that when the country would be celebrating the 75th anniversary of its independence, in the year 2022, a new source would start producing energy in Rajasthan which would be imparted across India. He said that when such a huge industry would start, lakhs of people would get employment and the economic scenario of the entire region would change.

In presence of Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje and the Union Petroleum Minister Shri Dharamendra Pradhan, the PM was addressing the Work Commencement Ceremony for Rajasthan Refinery at Pachpadra in Barmer district, on Tuesday. He said that the Congress Party installed stone plaques across the country for projects worth thousand crores of rupees and misguided the public. He congratulated CM Smt. Raje and the Union Minister Shri Pradhan for making intensive efforts and thus make sure that nobody was able to misguide the public by announcing a project without any ground preparation and not executing it on ground. He hoped that henceforth the public would ask for the date of commencement of work.

Shri Modi said that unfortunately we had a tradition of forgetting the history. “But, you would feel proud that when I visited Israel for as Prime Minister, the first PM in 75 years of our Independence, I went to Haifa city and paid tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives to get Haifa freed. He said that it was a matter of pride for me to know that the battalion which fought and won the battle at Haifa was led by Rajasthan’s Major Dalpat Singh Shekhawat. Recently, along with the Israeli PM, I paid tribute to those great warriors at Teen Murthi Chowk in Delhi as well. To make the sacrifice and courage of the Haifa warriors immortal, Teen Murti Chowk had been renamed as Teen Murti Haifa Chowk,” he added.

The PM said that he used to visit Rajasthan since long. He said that he heard people saying that Congress and drought were twins. When Congress came in power drought came along with it. On the other hand, whenever Smt. Raje became the Chief Minister, the dry regions of the state received good rains. He added that everybody should work towards making Rajasthan a state which would energize the entire country.

The Prime Minister munched no words in praising the CM Smt. Raje and said that she took decisions in the larger public interest. He said that apart from having the life values of royalty, she had imbibed the Marwadi temperament as well. As a result of this, she managed to get more funds for Rajasthan from the Centre. Due to her untiring efforts, this refinery project, which was getting delayed was finally realized and Rajasthan got a big profit as well, he added.

Shri Modi said that for the past 70 years, people of the country were befooled by the people who were sitting in the temple of democracy. He said that when he became the PM, he knew that several of the Railway Budget announcements were made only on the papers. “I showed the courage and gave away with this tradition of making false claims in the Railway budget, so that a practice of true and false prevails,” he said.

The PM said that he executed his promise of implementing One Rank One Pension scheme for the retired soldiers. He said that for this too, the Congress Party attempted to misguide the public by making a budget announcement and mentioning a sanction of Rs. 500 crore for this. Soon after taking over as the PM, when the real estimates were calculated for this scheme, it was revealed that cost of the scheme was Rs. 12,500 crore.

In his speech, the PM recalled the contribution of former Vice President Late Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for his contribution in development of the state and freedom fighter Shri Gulabchand Salecha for participating in Namak Satyagrah. He also wished early recovery and good health for the former Union Minister Shri Jaswant Singh.

In the beginning, the Prime Minister unveiled the plaque of Work Commencement of Refinery pressing the remote control button.

Addressing the gathering on this occasion Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje said that the previous Congress government was trying to burden people of the state with debt of Rs. 56,000 crores through the refinery project. After re-negotiating we saved Rs. 40,000 crores and thus this refinery is the biggest win for Rajasthan and Rajasthanis. While welcoming the Prime Minister amid the presence of hundreds of thousands of people Smt. Raje said this was the historical day for Rajasthan. She said during our previous regime we had thought about this refinery and the first oil well Mangala had been started that time. Today, the work for this refinery has been kicked off by our Prime Minister and I firmly believe that this refinery shall be inaugurated by PM Modi, she said.

Smt. Raje said the previous government was in a hurry to lay foundation stone only before 10 days of declaration of election dates. The lease deed and environmental clearance for the land were not taken. Necessary technical and financial analysis was also not done properly for such a big project. Without marketing terminal foundation stone laid and agreement was signed, she said. Who got benefitted with such agreement, she questioned.

The Chief Minister said according to the internal rate of return finalised by the previous government the state would have received 6 paisa after investing one rupee but in the MoU we did the state will receive 12 paisa which is just double benefit. Not only this, the plant we are going to set up will be more upgraded, she said.

Smt. Raje said we have made our farmers partner in the development process through the new Solar Energy Policy introduced in the state. In the next one year Bhadala Solar Park will be set up with the capacity of 2255 MW solar energy and the another one will be set up in Nokh, Jaisalmer with 1000 MW capacity. She said Pokaran-Phalsund-Balotara-Siwana lift project shall be completed by September, 2018 and 580 villages of Barmer and Jaisalmer along with Siwana and Balotara towns will get drinking water, she added.

The Union Petroleum Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that this Refinery-cum-Petrochemical Complex shall be a game changer for Rajasthan. The project will bring direct and indirect investment of worth Rs. one lakh crores. He said the western Rajasthan is an energy hub having the storage of solar energy, wind energy, natural gas, lignite and petroleum.

Minister of State for Mining Surendra Pal Singh welcomed the dignitaries in the beginning while CMD of HPCL Shri M. K. Surana gave momento to the Prime Minister.

Union Minister of State for Law Shri P.P. Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State for Food & Civil Supply Shri C. R. Choudhary, Home Minister Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, Minister Shri Rajendra Rathore, Shri Yunus Khan, Shri Surendra Goyal, Shri Rajpal Singh Shekhawat and other ministers, MPs, MLAs and other public representatives were also present on this occasion.

Jaipur/Barmer, January 16th 2018