Gas-based industries will fuel country’s economy, improve job opportunities: PM

‘Southern region, including Visakhapatnam, is set to become a petroleum hub’

Charm offensive: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting the gathering at the ‘Praja Chaitanya Sabha’, in Guntur on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Sunday that gas-based industries would fuel the economy of the country and trigger massive employment opportunities.

Three key projects

He was speaking after remotely dedicating to the nation the 1.33 MMT Visakhapatnam Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility of the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL) and the ONGC’s ₹1,187-crore Vashishta & S1 development project in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) offshore basin, and laying the stone for setting up a new terminal of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) at Krishnapatnam port. Stating that the projects would give major push to the gas-based industrial units in Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring States, Mr. Modi said, with the grounding of these projects, the coastal region was set to become a gas- based economy and the southern region, including Visakhapatnam, a petroleum hub.

Low-cost fuel

“We are promoting low-cost clean fuel in a big way and, in the last four-and-a-half years, the Centre had given 13 crore new gas connections. The Congress, on the other had, had given just 4 crore new gas connections in the last 55 years. LPG/CNG fuel will also be utilised for production of fertilizers,” Mr. Modi added.

‘Rich legacy’

Earlier, the Prime Minister began his address by invoking the rich literary and cultural legacy of Guntur by recalling about the contribution of Dalit poet Gurram Jashuva and ‘Mahakavi’ Tikkana. He also spoke about the historic legacy of Amaravati, and said the Centre had given heritage status to the historic town under the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme.

“Guntur is the Oxford of the world,” Mr. Modi said, drawing spontaneous applause from the gathering.

Mr. Modi went on to say that the Centre had given huge financial assistance to Andhra Pradesh. “We have spent ₹3 lakh crore on various institutions in the coastal region and creating manufacturing hubs in the backward regions,” Mr. Modi said.

Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana, manifesto committee chairperson D. Purandeswari, former MP K. Sambasiva Rao, and MLAs P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and Kamineni Srinivas were present.