INDIA: One year on, Mittal-HPCL refinery is dogged by protests, poor economics

摘要

UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal is finding out how tough it is to be an oil trader a year after venturing into the refining business through a jointly owned nine-million-ton per year plant in India's Punjab state. Instead of thanking him for bringing in prosperity, people living near the 200-billion-rupee Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in a village in Bhatinda district are demanding its relocation on health, safety and environmental reasons. (US$1=55 rupees). Almost to the anniversary of its commissioning, hundreds of villagers launched daily protests outside the refinery to complain of pollution and health infractions. They also fear the plant and its storage tanks could blow up any time as has already happened in various oil depots in different parts of the country. Last month, fire briefly broke out at a unit of the refinery after an explosion.