Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Sep 20: To the relief of the citizens of coastal Karnataka, who was worried over the possibility of having to forgo lands for the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) which requires thousands of acres of land, the project is likely to be abandoned by the union government.
It is learnt, that the Karntaka government, which had earlier approved the project, and is now facing stiff opposition in acquiring lands for the Mangalore Special Economic Zone near Mangalore, Nagarjuna Power Project near Padubidri and the underground petroleum products storage facility at Herur near Udupi, has expressed its helpless in acquiring the large tracts of land for the PCPIR in the twin-districts as proposed earlier. The government has asked the union government to put the project on hold, because of the stiff opposition from the local people. It may be recalled, that several enviromentalists and organizations have declared their opposition to the said project.
The projects envisage provision of land, water and power by the state government for the PCPIR project. As the state government has now backtracked from the project, the union government in all likelihood, will decide to shelve the project, it is learnt.