ONGC to invest Rs17,000cr in M'lore complex

 Our Correspondent
Mangalore, 23 June

 The foundation stone laying ceremony of the ONGC petrochemical complex at Permude near here by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which was scheduled to be held today, could not take place as the IAF plane by which the PM came could not land due to poor visibility due to heavy rains.

R S Sharma, chairman and managing director of ONGC, announced that the Prime Minister had expressed his desire to come again and hence the programme has been deferred. The function will be held at the earliest, he added.

After the announcement, Sadanand Gowda, state BJP president and legislators Padmanabha Kottari, Krishna Palemar, Lalji Mendon and Shakuntala Shetty staged a dharna in front of the specially-erected stage demanding that the complex be inaugurated right away.

Singh proceeded to Bangalore after his plane hovered over Mangalore airport for some time but could not land. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister, who had come from Bangalore, could land at Mangalore. Once the Prime Minister proceeded to Bangalore, they also did the same.