TDP Politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Tuesday sought an explanation as to why the State Government failed to bid for D 3 and D 9 blocks of Krishna-Godavari basin, which came up for auction recently and, to exert pressure on the Central Government for allocation of a fair share of gas discovered in the D 6 block, which was successfully tapped by the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) instead of some government enterprise like the ONGC.
The State Government alleged that the Telugu Desam Party’s inability to float a Special Purpose Vehicle to utilize the D 6 gas, when it was in power, resulted in a loss of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore to the exchequer. The TDP did not establish a firm as it could not invest the people’s money in the project which was mired in uncertainty at that time. The oil and natural gas reserves were identified in 2000 but exploration and production commenced much later.
What did the Congress Government do when it had confirmed source (of gas) in the K-G basin and why it proposed the A.P Gas Infrastructure Corporation so long after the dispute between Ambani brothers became a public issue?, Mr. Ramakrishnudu asked.
Addressing media persons at the party office here on Tuesday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said it was a ‘joint conspiracy’ of the Central and State Governments that helped RIL exploit the natural resource in such a manner that none of the governments derived any benefit from the mega project.
The Central Government has the responsibility to disclose details of the production sharing contract signed with RIL. What the people of Andhra Pradesh wanted a reasonable share of the gas from the Central Government’s share if not from the total production. But, the Central Government maintained stoic silence while the State Government was still trying to understand the basics of natural gas business.
The State Government should come clean on three issues - royalties, allocation of gas and transit charges. The Government of Iran was collecting transit charges on different gas pipelines criss-crossing its territory whereas the Andhra Pradesh was just watching gas being freely transported through huge pipelines to various corners of India.
Both Central and State Governments needed to clear people’s doubts instead of slinging mud on TDP which did everything to secure the State’s share in D 6 gas except floating the SPV. The entire content of New Exploration and Licensing Policy should be put in the public domain, Mr. Ramakrishnudu added.
The State Government alleged that the Telugu Desam Party’s inability to float a Special Purpose Vehicle to utilize the D 6 gas, when it was in power, resulted in a loss of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore to the exchequer. The TDP did not establish a firm as it could not invest the people’s money in the project which was mired in uncertainty at that time. The oil and natural gas reserves were identified in 2000 but exploration and production commenced much later.
What did the Congress Government do when it had confirmed source (of gas) in the K-G basin and why it proposed the A.P Gas Infrastructure Corporation so long after the dispute between Ambani brothers became a public issue?, Mr. Ramakrishnudu asked.
Addressing media persons at the party office here on Tuesday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said it was a ‘joint conspiracy’ of the Central and State Governments that helped RIL exploit the natural resource in such a manner that none of the governments derived any benefit from the mega project.
The Central Government has the responsibility to disclose details of the production sharing contract signed with RIL. What the people of Andhra Pradesh wanted a reasonable share of the gas from the Central Government’s share if not from the total production. But, the Central Government maintained stoic silence while the State Government was still trying to understand the basics of natural gas business.
The State Government should come clean on three issues - royalties, allocation of gas and transit charges. The Government of Iran was collecting transit charges on different gas pipelines criss-crossing its territory whereas the Andhra Pradesh was just watching gas being freely transported through huge pipelines to various corners of India.
Both Central and State Governments needed to clear people’s doubts instead of slinging mud on TDP which did everything to secure the State’s share in D 6 gas except floating the SPV. The entire content of New Exploration and Licensing Policy should be put in the public domain, Mr. Ramakrishnudu added.
0 comments:
Post a Comment