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Petro Minister mum on CM’s royalty plea
Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday indirectly turned down the plea of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for royalty on gas and oil. Addressing a joint press conference along with the Union Minister here after holding discussion with him on the energy road map of Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister said he had requested the Petroleum Minister to pay royalty on on-shore and off-shore gas and oil exploration as the State was in dire need of funds.
Visakhapatnam: Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday indirectly turned down the plea of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for royalty on gas and oil. Addressing a joint press conference along with the Union Minister here after holding discussion with him on the energy road map of Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister said he had requested the Petroleum Minister to pay royalty on on-shore and off-shore gas and oil exploration as the State was in dire need of funds.
The Chief Minister said the 19th Finance Committee on Oil and Energy had worked out a formula for the payment of cess and royalty to the States which are endowed with the resources. However, Pradhan said, “We have to go by the law of the land. The NDA government will consider the request of the Chief Minister for payment of royalty but we cannot assure right now.’’
He said the Central government, particularly his Ministry, had drawn a long road map to make AP the future hub of energy for which the Chief Minister had assured full cooperation in the meeting held in the afternoon. He said the State is endowed with full gas and oil reserves both on shore and off shore, thermal power plants and other infrastructure and hence it would be easy for the government to chalk out a energy road map.
Stating that the public sector units like ONGC and GAIL have been entrusted with the task of developing projects in the State, he said they not only generate revenue, but also execute welfare measures for the poor and needy. “We have assured to develop a petro-chemical complex and a Petroleum University for which the State has been asked to identify the land.
The Centre would provide LPG connections to the BPL families and it would be spending Rs 1,600 per each connection’’ the Union Minister said. The Chief Minister said that he had asked for 45 lakh more gas connections for 100 percent coverage of the BPL families in the State.
