Centre to soon set up LPG bottling plant in Meghalaya

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan calls upon the Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma at the later's residence today the 9th Dec 17 during the Union Minister's visit to Shillong. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the Government of Meghalaya and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd during the meeting. MIPR — Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan calls upon the Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma at the later’s residence today the 9th Dec 17 during the Union Minister’s visit to Shillong. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the Government of Meghalaya and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd during the meeting. MIPR

SHILLONG, DEC 9: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 75 crore for setting up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas bottling plant in Meghalaya to increase the LPG penetration especially in the rural areas of the state.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was inked between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the state government in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma here in the city on Saturday.

“I have signed an MOU to set up a bottling plant with an annual capacity of 13,000 metric tons. The investment of Rs 75 crore for the bottling plant will be done by the Government of India,” Pradhan said.

He said that the Centre has decided to implement the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the state in full swing while keeping in mind that the LPG penetration in Meghalaya is the lowest in the North East region.

“Only 27 per cent of the households in the state are linked with LPG connectivity which is much below the national average,” he said.

Emphasizing the need to have LPG connection for the rural households, he said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given priority to the far flungs areas of the country and Meghalaya is one of them.

Stating that at present there are only 49 LPG distributors in the state, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that another 20 LPG distributors have now been added for Meghalaya.

Meghalaya is the only state in the region with no bottling plant despite the LPG crises due to growing consumers.

Though a 50 acres land at Umroi-Umjatah about 25 km from here has been identified by the Indian Oil Corporation since 1996, the proposed setting up of the state-own bottling plant could not materialize due to the objection from the local village authority.

Asked, Pradhan said that the new bottling plant will be constructed at an existing site located in Shillong itself.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas also launched the e-Library, social media centre and the official website of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Meghalaya state during his one-day visit to the poll-bound state.

Addressing on the occasion, Pradhan said that before the upcoming 2018 state Assembly elections, he would again visit the state to englighten the people especially in the rural villages about the various welfare programmes initiated by the Prime Minister.

“For the forthcoming election, I am confident that the present incumbent Congress-led government is going to see the exit route and the state will have a new government which the BJP will play a major role in the state politics,” he added.

By Our Reporter