Oil town blues: How greed\, polls and politics keep a village on the edge

Oil town blues: How greed, polls and politics keep a village on the edge

Sonia Gandhi's 2013 announcement for a multi-billion dollar refinery caused a money stampede, but Modi's 2018 promise has made villagers of Pachpadra suspicious

Sai Manish  |  Barmer(Rajasthan) 

A year ago they say there was nothing but salt marshes amidst rugged terrain and a boundary wall. Now the salt pans are gone and the arid landscape as far as the eye can see has been pummelled and flattened.

Heavy-duty Caterpillar machines are at work laying roads, spools of electrical cables lie basking in the hot sun alongside camel dung, trucks ferrying sand intermittently leave trails of dust in which a handful of workers are busy building a warehouse. At the site of the proposed Rs 431-billion Pachpadra refinery in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, Hindustan Petroleum ...

Note: Subscription will be auto renewed, you may cancel any time in the future without any questions asked.

Total Amount
Rs. 149.00
Requires personal information

What you get?

ON BUSINESS STANDARD DIGITAL

  • Unlimited access to all the content on any device through browser or app.
  • Exclusive content, features, opinions and comment – hand-picked by our editors, just for you.
  • Pick 5 of your favourite companies. Get a daily email with all the news updates on them.
  • Track the industry of your choice with a daily newsletter specific to that industry.
  • Stay on top of your investments. Track stock prices in your portfolio.
  • 18 years of archival data.
  • Requires you to share personal information like date of birth, income, location amongst other fields. This information alongwith your contact information will be shared with the partners associated with this program, who contribute towards subsidizing the offer. By subscribing to this product you acknowledge and accept that our Partners may choose to contact you with offers of their products and services.
  • This is an optional offer - Not comfortable with sharing personal data - please opt for the full price offer which requires you to share minimal information
First Published: Tue, December 04 2018. 21:17 IST