Now, Andhra wants a pie of the KG basin gas

Just after Tata Power, GVK, GMR and Torrent had sought government intervention to ensure that the Ambani v/s Ambani spat does not hinder KG basin gas supplies to them, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister wants his state to get its due share of the hydro-carbon assets located off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told members of 13th finance commission that people of his state are entitled to a part of the Krishna-Godavari gas since the natural resource is located just off the coast of Godavari district.

During today's meeting, which included finance commission chairman Vijay Kelkar, the AP chief minister said that changes were required in the gas distribution system to guarantee that the state's industries were not deprived of natural gas, especially electricity projects and homes.

Calling the whole system as unjust and unfortunate, Rajasekhara Reddy said that Andhra Pradesh does neither get a share on the royalty or profit nor does it have a say in allocation or pricing.

The extreme interpretation of the constitutional provisions about offshore resources should not be invoked to deny the people of our state their due share, said the chief minister.

He complained that the gas distribution network will be affected and gas will not reach the households as envisaged in the absence of clear allocation, and the estimates vary about the availability of gas in the Krishna-Godavari Basin.

He pointed out that Reliance Industries has already started commercial production of gas from its D6 block and the first landfall point for the gas is East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.