Padubidri: Indian Strategic Petrolium Reserve Limited fact finding Tour

By Snehalatha, Udupi
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 22 August 2012: On the back drop of the controversies surrounding agricultural land acquisition by the government for the I.S. P. R. L. near Padubidri at Padooru which affected many farmers and common people, the district commissioner of Udupi District recently arranged a fact finding tour for selected fifteen high school students of the district to make the students understand why this project is important for the nation. They visited the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited project site.

 

Assistant Chief Executive Officer of ISPRL, Mr. P. Veerabhadra Rao, conducted a tour of the site along with the students and explained to them why this storage facility is important to the nation. He said that the developed nations already have these types of facilities. In India, for the first time, we have planned to have only three so far, one at Vishakapattinam, one at Mangalore and one at Padooru. He further said that the sites are chosen using satellites which pin point particular rocky terrains with huge rocks. A storage tunnel with a height of 32 meters, a width of 22 meters and a length of 700 meters is carved out of this solid rock and the plans are to have four of them at Padooru. When all these four are completed 2.5 million metric tons of crude oil could be stored in these tanks.

 

 

District education officer Mr. Ashok Kamath, DDPI Mr. Nagaraj and fifteen teachers participated during the tour. Later, interacting with the group, last year’s award winning young scientist and student of Viveka Junior College Ms. Trupthi K. Rao expressed happiness for being a part of the exciting experience.

 

This year’s young scientist award winner Mr. Sandeep Koradkal of St Mary’s High School said that it is a matter of great pride for us that a modern engineering feat is being accomplished in our neighborhood. He further said that the company, with many technical experts, is trying to compete with developed nations and make our nation one of the developed nations of the world.

 

The students were happy that the district commissioner had made them realize that the land which was acquired is used for the projects which help develop the economy of the nation.

 

 Storage of Crude Oil for Emergency Situvations:

 

India imports 92% of the total crude oil requirement from foreign countries. The government has plans to store as much crude oil as possible so that in case of emergencies like an earthquake, floods, wars etc when the supply of crude oil is affected the stored oil could be used said Mr. P. Veerabhadra. Moreover, the plans are that the soil above these storage facilities could be utilized to harvest rain water and also plant fruit bearing trees, he further said.