Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Choudhary Zulfkar Ali on Wednesday asked oil companies to expedite work on establishing oil depots and bottling plants in various districts of State.Chairing a review meeting, the Minister asked the representatives of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) who attended the meeting through video conferencing, to expedite the land identification work for the establishing oil depots and bottling plant in the districts of Anantnag, Kargil, Rajouri, and Leh.Stressing on need for bringing in more urgency in the work, the Minister said that establishing the oil depots and bottling plants in the districts is must as it will help to avoid fuel shortage in the region.The Minister said availability of essential supplies, including oil and gas are must for people living across the state. He said keeping inclusive development of every region in mind, it is imperative that irrespective of geographical location, every area in the State should receive a fair share of its infrastructural development and get benefits at par with any other place.
During the meeting, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Syed Abid informed the meeting that the district administration has already identified 70 kanals of land at six different places for the construction purpose, adding four locations out of these places are close to railway lines and national highway as was requested by oil companies earlier.Similarly, Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri Shahid Iqbal Choudhary informed the meeting that 165 kanals of land have been identified for construction of oil depot and bottling plant in the district. He added the district administration is waiting for a technical team from the oil companies to visit the site to check for the technical feasibility. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Kargil apprised the Minister that 71 kanals of land have been identified and the district administration is in process of completing other formalities to hand over the land to the oil companies.During the meeting, the Minister instructed the oil companies to ensure that they will send their technical expert team to all the districts to check if the identified land is feasible for the required constructions.The Minister directed the oil companies to complete all the formalities in this regard at an earliest, adding the timely completion would benefit both consumers as well as the oil companies.During the meeting, the Minister also sought update of shifting of oil depot situated near Railway Head in Jammu with Deputy Commissioner, Jammu Rajeev Ranjan.
Expressing his concern over the issue, the Minister said that shifting of oil depot from its present location is a must as it is a serious “security hazard.” Reiterating his concern for expediting the process of shifting work of the oil depot to the new identified place, the Minister directed if the step is not taken soon the Government may be forced to close down the oil depot in Jammu for the security of people.The Minister said security of people is the top priority of the Government and they would not make any kind of compromise on it. He said if the concerned fail to overcome the bottlenecks in shifting of the depot at an earliest, the Ministry may be forced to close it down from its present location.He urged the oil companies to contribute in development of public infrastructure at all places where they are establishing new ventures to meet their corporate responsibility. He said the companies should formulate a rehabilitation plan with provision for facilities of school and health care in the areas where they are starting their ventures like oil depot or gas bottling plant.Secretary FCS&CA Shafiq Raina, Controller, Legal Metrology Department (LMD) Vipra Bhal, Director FCS&CA Kashmir Nissar Ahmad Wani, State Level Coordinator, IOCL Hari Anupam, Senior Regional Manager HPCL Ajaz Kachroo, Senior Territory Manager BPCL, Rajesh Sharma and other concerned attended the meeting.