Odishatv Bureau

Paradip: Prime minister Narendra Modi today said the Paradip oil refinery would be the Vikash Deep and Bhagya Deep of crores of Odia people.

“Paradip refinery will act as the 'Bhagya Deep' and Vikash Deep of crores of people of the State. IOCL’s refinery will help to change the fortune of the people. More than 3000 acres of land on which the refinery stands will become the job avenues of lakhs of poor, Modi addressed a massive gathering after dedicating the IOCL refinery here to the nation.

The IOCL refinery at Paradip will produce 78 crore kg LPG, 500 crore kg petrol, 680 crore kg diesel & 120 lakh quintals petroleum coke, he said in his speech.

Praising Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his effort in providing LPG connectivity the PM said, “As many as 11 lakh poor families in the state have got LPG connection within a period of one year.”

Modi did not forget to criticise the Congress who made claim of beginning the project. “My friends from Congress used to take credit saying that they had begun the project at the time of inauguration. We should try to bring a new work culture where projects are conceived in time and completed on time”, Modi pointed out.

The prime minister, on the occasion, remembered the luminaries of Odisha like Biju Patnaik, Nabakrushna Choudhury, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, Madhusudan Das, Pranakrushana Parija for their contribution to modern Odisha.

Notably, the 15 million tons per annum Paradip refinery, whose foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had on May 24, 2000, was dedicated to the nation in the presence of Governor SC Jamir, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Excise minister Damodar Rout, Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram.

Representatives of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were also present in the ceremony.

Located 140 km from Bhubaneswar, Paradip refinery is one of the most modern refineries in the world which can process cheaper high sulphur heavy crude oils. It as a complexity factor of 12.2.
It will produce 5.6 million tonnes per annum of diesel, 3.79 million tonnes of petrol and 1.96 million tonnes of kerosene/ATF. Besides, 790,000 tonnes of LPG and 1.21 million tonnes of petroleum coke would also be produced, officials said.

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