Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Monday for the slow pace of the proposed Rajasthan refinery in Pachpadra and questioned why the refinery work is slow despite having a ‘double engine’ government?
Gehlot said that the BJP government of the state had said in the budget announcement number 158 of 2025-26 that the refinery at Pachpadra-Balotra will start production from August 2025. He posted on ‘X’ and said, “Yesterday Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri visited the refinery, but the statements of both and the government press note had no mention of the date of starting of the refinery. This amazing silence is raising doubts in the public. ”
According to Gehlot, during the tenure of the Congress government, the refinery work was faster and more than 80 percent of the work was completed.
He alleged that due to negligence of the BJP government from 2013 to 2018 and now 2023, the cost of this project has increased to about one lakh crore.
He said, “When the foundation stone of this project was laid in 2013, then the cost would not have been stopped after changing the government. Now the people of Rajasthan are asking why the refinery work is going on slow despite the government of ‘double engine’? ”
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma inspected HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL) on Sunday in Pachpadra in Balotra district. During this time he did some inauguration work and also held a review meeting.