Centre pulling back development: Govt

The minister has already written to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, urging him to intervene in the matter and ensure the supply material.

Although the minister refrained from directly accusing his political rivals at the Centre for slowing down the pace of development, he said he was compelled to write the letter as repeated requests to oil companies failed to ensure adequate supply of bitumen.

Last fiscal the Government had given details of the monthly requirement of bitumen to Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum. However, the companies failed to sent the supplies as per requirement. Against a requirement of 1.32 lakh metric tonnes in April-May, the supply was just 44,000 metric tonnes.

8220;Bitumen was out of stock in the IOCL depot for about 20 days in March. We wrote to the Managing Director of IOCL, but there has been no improvement,8221; the letter said.

When the matter was taken up with oil company officials, they said lack of railway connectivity was the reason why bitumen could not be transported. 8220;Our officers have written to their counterparts in the Railways and I have personally requested Lalu Prasad Yadav to look into the matter,8221; Yadav said.