Today, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s first second generation bio-ethanol plant and laid the foundation stone of a polypropylene plant at Numaligarh in Golaghat district of Assam. The total cost of this project is ₹ 12,231 crore. Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present on this occasion. At the inauguration ceremony, the Chief Minister said that this is a golden day for Assam. He informed that in the morning the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of projects worth ₹ 6,300 crore in Darrang and after that inaugurated the ₹ 5,000 crore bio-ethanol project at Numaligarh Refinery and laid the foundation stone of ₹ 7,231 crore polypropylene project.
Numaligarh Refinery is the pride of Assam
Chief Minister Dr. Sarma described Numaligarh Refinery as the proud identity of Assam and said that in the year 1999, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had dedicated this refinery to the service of the nation. At that time its annual capacity was 3 million metric tonnes. He said that there were discussions many times to expand the refinery, but it was not possible due to the shortage of crude oil in Assam. Prime Minister Modi ensured that if crude oil is required for expansion, it will be imported from outside, so that the refinery is always active.
Three-fold expansion of refining capacity
Under the Prime Minister’s initiative, crude oil was brought through pipeline from Paradip in Odisha at a cost of Rs 26,000 crore. As a result, the refining capacity of Numaligarh Refinery has now increased from 3 million to 9 million metric tonnes annually. The Chief Minister described this achievement as possible due to the Prime Minister’s vision and his leadership. He said that this step is going to give new energy to the economy and industry of Assam, which will increase employment opportunities in the state and give impetus to industrial development.
Bamboo changing the lives of Assam farmers
Dr. Sarma, while explaining the importance of Assam’s rich natural resource bamboo, said that earlier people used bamboo only for household purposes. With the Prime Minister’s initiative, bamboo has now been converted from a forest resource to an agricultural commodity. By converting bamboo into ethanol, not only has it contributed to the energy sector, but it has also brought a big change in the lives of 50,000 bamboo farmers of Assam. The Chief Minister said that this initiative is an important step towards increasing the income of farmers and making Assam self-reliant in the field of industries.
