The Meghalaya High Court has expressed its pleasure with the steps taken by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to set up the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and bottling plant at Umiam, Ri-Bhoi district.
“It is heartening to note that a favourable report has been submitted following the inspection and the tender process may commence in the third week of April 2022,” the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said during hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) on the matter today.
The High Court which is monitoring the progress of the project has also listed the matter for hearing on April 26.
It may be mentioned that IOCL is in the process of floating a tender to construct the LPG storage and bottling plant at Umiam.
The project includes the construction of an LPG bottling plant of 30,000 metric tonnes per annum (TMTPA) capacity and three mounded storage vessels of 150 MT each.
The cost for the project was estimated at Rs 73.98 crore. The LPG gas will not be piped to the plant but transported in pressurised tankers and then bottled in cylinders at Umiam for distribution within Meghalaya.
Presently, the LPG cylinders in Meghalaya are brought from Assam. Since Meghalaya does not have a bottling plant, it often leads to the scarcity of LPG cylinders.
