The Union minister of state for petroleum Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Wednesday said: "With the formation of a separate state in Bihar (Vananchal), most industries in the state will go to south Bihar. We plan to set up a petrochemical complex at Barauni. This will be part of the package announced for Bihar in the wake of the separation of the state."

Gangwar visited Barauni on Wednesday and dedicated the Haldia-Barauni pipeline to IOC, Barauni. "The 500km pipeline from Haldia to Barauni to bring in crude oil has been completed six months in advance. Initially, the budget for the project was fixed at Rs 952 crore, but as the project was completed before time we managed to save Rs 300 crore," he said.

Gangwar said to transport finished products of the refinery, the pipeline fromBarauni to Kanpur would be extended to Lucknow. "Work is in progress, and laying a 70km pipeline will cost us Rs 70 crore," he said.

With the commissioning of the Haldia-Barauni pipeline, crude oil from Haldia started to flow into Barauni from February 16, and the refinery's truncated capacity of 3.3mtpa has now been raised to the full capacity of 4.2mtpa.

Besides this, the Government has selected 8,000 centres in the state for public distribution of petroleum and kerosene. The minister assured that the centres would come up soon.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Bihar Youth Congress led by its general secretary Kamaldeo Narayan Shukla has told Gangwar through a memorandum that the erstwhile incumbent TR Balu had visited Bihar in 1997 and assured people that eight PLG bottling plants would be set up in the state.

Balu had marked Patna, Bhagalpur, Chapra, Muzaffarpur, and Bokaro for IOC to set up bottling plants, while the plants at Gaya and Purnea were slated for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. BharatPetroleum Corporation was asked to open an LPG bottling plant at Begusarai.

There has, however, been no IOC follow-up to Balu's announcement till date. The district administration of Chapra has even cleared 50 acres of land for the proposed LPG bottling plant. In a letter dated January 24, 1999, it asked for a payment of Rs 75 lakh towards land costs.

"It seems IOC is not willing to fulfil the promise made by TR Balu, and the chapter seemed to have closed till I requested Gangwar. He has assured us that the foundation stone for the bottling plant will be laid at Chapra by April this year," Shukla said. North Bihar, in particular, has fewer industries with the sugar industry dominating the scenario.

The Youth Congress memorandum to Gangwar also indicates that the oil-exploration authorities have earmarked the Bihar stretch of the Ganga for exploration. "We request you to kindly do the needful in this regard so that some business activity and oil exploration in the state can take place," the memorandumsays.

Complaints were lodged against delays in issuing no-objection certificates (NOCs) by the district administration to do business in Bihar. "We have requested the minister to issue orders to the district administration for issuing NOCs within a reasonable time so that it does not take years and hamper business," Shukla said.

Gangwar said the ministry planned to expand IOC's crude-oil section by 7.5mtpa. "The expansion cost will be put at Rs 1,500 crore, in which, 6mtpa will be for Barauni and 1.5mtpa for Assam," the minister said. He expressed satisfaction over Barauni refinery's functioning.