NEW DELHI: The Cabinet's panel for promoting investment by cutting red tape on Wednesday asked the oil and defence ministries to resolve within a month their differences over allowing oil hunt in 47 blocks and seek fresh approval.
At its first meeting after being formed, the Cabinet committee on investment failed to break the deadlock over objections and reservations raised by the defence ministry on allowing companies to explore these blocks. "The issues involved are complex and therefore the two ministries have been asked to discuss and come back with a solution within a month," said a senior official.
The defence ministry refused to compromise on security concerns by diluting stringent conditions it had set while giving conditional nod to some of the blocks. It stuck to its stand that the oil ministry and the companies that had bid for these blocks were aware of the conditions which were yet to be met.
The defence ministry made it clear that taking conditional approval as final clearance was not proper. It pointed to 73 blocks where it had concerns but later cleared 27 after stakeholder consultations to make the point that it was accommodating the oil ministry's requests for security clearance.
Of the 47 blocks, RIL's KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block falls in 14 areas which the defence ministry has declared as 'no-go'. The reason for classifying the Krishna-Godavari basin block as 'no-go' area is that it overlaps with a proposed naval base.
"There were certain areas where certain problems were identified and therefore the ministry of petroleum and natural gas has been tasked with responsibility of sitting down with the ministry of defence and resolving some of the problems which are there with regard to 39 blocks," I&B Minister Manish Tewari said.
Panel asks oil, defence ministries to resolve differences in a month
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Panel asks oil, defence ministries to resolve differences in a month
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Panel asks oil, defence ministries to resolve differences in a month
