: Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd., (MRPL) on Monday said 75.2 per cent of land owners in four villages, owning 80 per cent land, have given their consent for acquiring land for the phase IV expansion of the refinery.
The company also said that the land to be acquired were spread across only four villages and not 10 villages as being reported in the media. MRPL managing director H. Kumar told presspersons that of 138 RTC holders owning 446.05 acres of land in Permude village, 108 had given their consent; 65 of 85 RTC holders in Kuthettur village owning 383 acres; three of 14 RTC holders owning 175 acres in Mulur-Kandavara village and one RTC holder owning 7.7 acres in Thenka Yekkar village had given consent.
Mr. Kumar used the opportunity to dismiss reports that most of the land being acquired were agriculture land and said about 600 acres of land were dry land including government land. The 182 acres being acquired in Mulur and Yekkar were meant for the rehabilitation of displaced persons.
Mr. Kumar said MRPL would provide rehabilitation on the basis of the directions to be issued by the State government. The government would spell out the details under the relevant Acts, he said.
The package may also include providing employment to displaced persons, he said. The company had provided employment to 538 people so far who had lost land for MRPL Phase III and OMPL projects.
Director (Refineries) M. Venkatesh said that MRPL had to upgrade the facilities to produce BS VI grade fuel by April 2020 as per the Supreme Court direction, for which additional land was required.
BS VI grade fuel would reduce sulphur content to 10 mg/kg and help environment protection. MRPL would also have to enhance refining capacity to 18/ 21 million tonnes per annum to meet increasing demand for fuel.
Raw petroleum coke gasification complex to produce Syn Gas, which can produce urea, acetic acid, acryliates etc and production of Linear Alkyl Benzene, a feed stock for detergent production, would also be taken up in Phase IV, Mr. Venkatesh said.
Director (Finance) A.K. Sahoo was present.
