Hyderabad: Finance minister Etela Rajendar held talks with oil marketing companies on June 23 at the Secretariat to discuss the Gail project. As per the preliminary proposals drafted by the state, the gas pipeline is being planned between Paradip and Hyderabad spanning 1,125 km, from Paradip to Choutuppal RR district (1,075 km), from Paradip to Warangal (1,050 km) and from Paradip to Sathupally in Khammam covering a distance of 850 km.
Of these four locations in T-state, the government has to shortlist one. Though Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts remain the most preferred ones due to their central location, the acquisition of land remains the major challenge due to the expense involved. The government hardly holds land in these districts and needs to acquire private land by spending a huge amount of money, which the new state cannot afford. Officials estimated that over 100 acres are required to set up depots to store fuel and gas in addition to hundreds of acres required for laying the gas pipeline.
“We need to address the safety concerns of the public before going ahead with the gas pipeline project. The recent GAIL pipeline blast has created panic among public and government. We will take all the stakeholders into confidence before executing the project. The demand for fuel will increase manifold in T-state in the coming one to two decades with many mega projects in the pipeline.
At present, fuel is coming from Vizag via Vijayawada to Telangana. With this, transport costs have been increasing which is reflected on the fuel prices. Telangana consumers end up paying more than Seemandhra consumers,” said Mr Rajendar.
He added that if the gas pipeline is laid, transportation costs can be avoided besides ensuring increased and smooth supplies to Telangana.Already the strained relations between AP and Telangana governments led to fuel shortage in a few T-districts. Supplies were disrupted with AP imposing taxes at inter-state border check posts and TRS government wants ensure that political reasons do not impact fuel supplies in future, by laying gas pipeline.
