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Ahluwalia: Upbeat
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New Delhi, Feb. 19 (PTI): The government is likely to clear in the next two weeks several of the 39 oil and gas fields that are stuck for want of defence clearance, said Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The cabinet committee on investment last month considered the defence ministry’s decision to treat 7 blocks, including Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 gas block and its gas discovery area NEC-25, as “No-Go” areas and impose stringent conditions on exploration in another 32 blocks.
“Meeting of the cabinet committee on investment took place (on January 30)... I am not sure about all the oil blocks (but) some of the blocks were looked at. I am hopeful that within two weeks or so, several of those would be cleared,” Ahluwalia said.
The panel, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had asked the ministries of defence and oil to sort out issues within a month such as the exploration area overlapping with facilities such as a proposed naval base, missile launching site and the Air Force exercise area.
It is to then consider giving the blocks a go-ahead for oil and gas exploration and production.
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