Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan foundation stone of Rs.507 crore Indian Oil Terminal at Pekhubella in Una in the presence of chief minister, Virbhadra Singh.
“The opening of Indian Oil terminal will be a new milestone in the history of Himachal Pradesh and also from strategic point of view,” said the Union minister.
The Una terminal would be strategic storage point for Indian Defence to meet annual winter fuel stocking in Leh and Ladakh and enroute Pathankot to Srinagar besides for Indian defence at Karu, Nima, Upshi, Kyari through the mighty Rohtang.
It would cater to 224 retail outlets, 22 superior Kerosene Oil agencies 125 consumer pumps meeting requirement of 5,80,000 KL annually in HP. Under advance winter stocking approximately 90,000 Kilo litre petroleum products would be supplied to Ladakh region when road links open through Rohtang and Jojila passes.
Pradhan said an underground pipe-line would be laid from Jalandhar up-till Una. A terminal would be dedicated to the people of the state in 2018. He said that around 200 trucks would every day will transport the petroleum, oil and lubricants to different parts of HP besides giving employment to thousands. He said a tender in respect of transportation of petroleum products would be invited and opened in Shimla.
The minister said that two bottling plants of around 90,000 MT capacity would be opened in the hilly region of the state for LPG refill.