Operationalise Pachpadra oil refinery project at earliest: Gehlot to Rajasthan government

Jaipur, Dec 30 (PTI) Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday asked the state government to inaugurate the oil refinery project in Pachpadra at the earliest to commence production.

Describing the refinery as a symbol of the Rajasthan's development and economic future, Gehlot credited the former Congress government for bringing the project to the state through persistent efforts.

Gehlot said that during his second term as chief minister, the Congress government held serious discussions with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to establish the refinery.

"Initially, HPCL showed little interest, but following interventions by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the project was allocated to Rajasthan. Gandhi laid the foundation stone in 2013 in the presence of the then Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily," he said.

Gehlot said after the BJP government came to power in 2013, it allegedly stalled work on the refinery for five years, causing its cost to escalate from Rs 37,000 crore to nearly Rs 1 lakh crore.

When the Congress returned to power, he said, work resumed rapidly from 2018 to 2023 despite challenges like Covid-19 pandemic. Around 85 per cent of the project was completed in those five years, he said.

"In a review meeting at Pachpadra in May 2023, HPCL had promised commercial production by December 2024, but this did not happen as the BJP government came to power. The state budget in 2025 mentioned starting operations by August and this deadline has also passed," he said.

Gehlot demanded that the state government inaugurate the project at the earliest.

The HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited project, a joint venture between HPCL and the Rajasthan government, is a 9 million metric tonnes per annum integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex. PTI SDA RUK RUK