Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 05: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today said that the commissioning of the GAIL liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline was a fulfilment of the promise given by the state government to the people. He was speaking during the virtual inauguration ceremony of the Rs 3,000 crores Kochi-Mangalore LNG pipeline project by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.
In his address, the CM said, “The government overcame all obstacles of the project by addressing the legitimate concerns of the people. He recalled that in 2014, GAIL had suspended all work on the pipeline due to several issues that cropped up. Of the 450 km long Kochi-Mangalore pipeline, 414 km is in Kerala. It is natural for people to face difficulties when implementing big development projects but despite these problems, they cooperated with the project. This happened because the government was able to convince them that this project is crucial for the all-round development of Kerala.”
The project was completed after overcoming many legal hurdles and protests. The biggest challenge was to lay the pipe through densely populated areas, hilly areas and under rivers but GAIL officials worked resolutely to complete the project.
The CM congratulated the GAIL officials, District administrators, police and other government departments who worked together to overcome the obstacles. He also congratulated the workers who toiled tirelessly to complete the project despite the challenges like the floods, the Nipah virus and the Covid pandemic.
“The completion of the pipeline project will help expand the city gas supply chain thereby, increasing the availability of natural gas for domestic use. The project will also help in the development of FACT and the realisation of the proposed Petrochemicals Park. This would bring great development in the energy sector as well”, the CM added.
CM gets accolades from Centre
Thanking the Kerala Chief Minister for his support in making the GAIL pipeline a reality, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said, “This grand project would not have been completed without the support of the CM. The joint efforts of the Central and State Governments to complete the GAIL project are an excellent example of cooperative federalism.
In his address, the PM congratulated the people of Kerala and Karnataka for completing the project and said the project will make a significant contribution to the economic development of both the states.
Kerala Governor, Shri Arif Mohammad Khan; Karnataka Governor Shri Wajubhai Wala and Karnataka CM, Shri B S Yeddyurappa, were also present via video conference.
Background
The GAIL pipeline project to pipe natural gas from the Kochi LNG terminal to Mangalore and Bangalore was approved by the Central Government in 2010 but until 2016, only 48 km of the pipeline could be completed. The project was revived in 2016 when this government came to power. The compensation was doubled and populated areas were excluded from laying pipes as much as possible. The width of the land required was cut down from 30 meters to 10 meters. Those with less than 10 cents of land were given permission to build a house on the land apart from Rs 5 lakh in relief. The compensation for lost crops was raised.
The government constantly intervened to address the concerns and grievances of the locals regarding land acquisition, compensation and security. The CM directly and continuously monitored the progress of the project. As a result, the government was able to lay 330 km of pipelines within the first 1,000 days. Now, other states are trying to emulate the successful Kerala model.