Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on Friday dedicated to the nation the Chennai-Bangalore petroleum products pipeline constructed by the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., (IOCL) for uninterrupted supply of petroleum products to the southern Karnataka region.
Dedicating the pipeline at the Devanagonthi Terminal of IOCL near Hoskote here, Mr. Bhardwaj commended the efforts of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the oil marketing companies in ensuring adequate supply of petro products to Karnataka.
Mr. Bhardwaj also launched the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitarak Yojana, wherein public sector oil marketing companies committed themselves to supply adequate supply of domestic LPG to rural areas. Speaking on the occasion, Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora took exception to the call by the Opposition for a Bharat bandh on July 5 opposing the price hike of petro products. He said the hike in LPG price came to only Re. 1 a day and that of kerosene to 28 paise a day. The Ministry and the oil companies had been struggling hard to ensure adequate and uninterrupted supply of petro products and there was no way out but to increase the prices to cope up with global crude oil prices, he said.
Union Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan noted that while revolutions in the telecom and IT sectors were much talked about, the silent revolution in the petroleum sector had gone unnoticed and not talked about much. Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily urged the Union Power Ministry to commission a thermal power plant in Hoskote taluk once Bangalore got piped natural gas supply, Mr. Moily said. The 290-km Chennai-Bangalore underground pipeline originating from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation's Manali Refinery traverses via Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh before terminating at Devanagonthi.
