By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s lower house of parliament was adjourned for nearly two hours Monday when some members of the opposition alleged that Uttar Pradesh was not being given its due share of Reliance Industries’ Krishna-Godavari gas even after Petroleum Minister Murli Deora explained the government stand on the matter.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the house after loud protests by members of the Samajwadi Party, who alleged the government was discriminating against Uttar Pradesh over supplying gas to the Dadri power project of Reliance Natural Resources.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources and elder brother Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries are fighting a bitter legal battle over the supply and pricing of gas from the fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
The dispute between the two Ambani brothers has been brewing for nearly five years now.
The protests came after Deora issued a verbal statement saying the government would do everything possible to protect public interest over the distribution of gas from the fields, being called one of the largest such discoveries in Asia in recent years.
Glossing over the dispute between Mukesh and his brother Anil Ambani, who owns the RNRL, over gas allocation, the minister said: “We have nothing to do with the private dispute of companies or individuals.”
This provoked the opposition benches, especially the Samajwadi Party members, who were on their feet alleging the government was biased against Uttar Pradesh, since the Dadri power project, on the outskirts of New Delhi, was awaiting the gas for feedstock.
Speaker Kumar asked the members to let the house run and then briefly continued with the day’s business, including the introduction of three major legislations – the Companies Bill, Indian Trust (Amendment) Bill and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Amendment) Bill.
But she was subsequently forced to adjourn the house as Samajwadi Party members trooped into the well raising slogans against the government.
“There has been no discrimination against Uttar Pradesh,” Minister Deora said in the statement, ading that the state-run power utility NTPC had been allocated 450,000 units of gas per day for its Dadri unit.
In the case of Anil Ambani’s company, however, he said that the case was considered by an empowered group of ministers led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. “This plant is neither installed nor functional,” he added.
“The intention of the government is very clear. We will allocate gas to Dadri plant subject to availability and that Dadri plant will be treated on the same footing as other similar plants placed under similar circumstances.”
The fields belonging to Reliance Industries in the Krishna-Godavari basin were producing 31 million units per day and within a year, it would go up to 81 million units, the minister told the house.