Tapti high gas project approved

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, MAY 28. The Centre has approved the long-awaited Tapti-high gas allocation for the proposed 615 MW capacity gas- based Pipavav power project in Gujarat.The Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, told reporters on Saturday that the Centre had accepted Gujarat's demand for 2.5 million cubic metre gas from the Tapti high oilfields off Surat coast in south Gujarat for the proposed power project to be set up on the sea-coast at Pipavav in Amreli district of the Saurashtra region. To begin with, the Centre would provide 2.25 million cubic metre gas a day from mid- south Tapti high from the year 2003.

The Pipavav would be the first major power project in the Saurashtra region which now gets power from the distant generating units of the Gujarat Electricity Board. The proposal for the Tapti gas was submitted to the Centre in 1990.

Mr. Patel thanked the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Union Petroleum Minister, Mr. Ram Naik, who had also increased the crude oil royalty to the State from Rs. 750 a tonne to Rs. 800 as an ad hoc measure with effect from January.

Minister denies charges

Meanwhile, the Union Rural Development Minister, Mr. Sunderlal Patwa, has denied the Congress(I) allegation that he was opposed to the Narmada dam project. In a rejoinder to Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary's comments, Mr. Patwa said during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1990-92, the work for the dam construction and the rehabilitation of the affected were going on in full swing.

Mr. Patwa said the contracts awarded for various works under the project during his tenure as the Chief Minister still remains incomplete due to the non-co-operation by the successive Congress(I) Governments headed by Mr. Digvijay Singh.

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