On day three of assuming office, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held two back-to-back meetings on top priority issues related to India's energy security and Jammu & Kashmir.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reached Shah's office in North Block to review the $2.4 billion investment proposal for a gas field in Mozambique. State-run Bharat Petroleum is slated to bid for the lucrative deal that could go a long way in building up energy security for the country that is on a short fuse after Iran crisis.
The meeting was called specifically to thrash out issues before reaching the cabinet clearance in advance to avoid any fiascos that have taken in the past. Incidentally, all such meetings in the past were taken by former union finance minister Arun Jaitley, considered de-facto number two in the Modi cabinet. This meeting, with all ministers turning up to Shah's office, marks his importance in the new Modi cabinet.
Kashmir & delimitation
Shah held another meeting with top ministry officials to discuss the touchy issues of delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir and the security arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officials of the Kashmir division in the ministry briefed problems in Kashmir and scheduled elections. They also discussed process to start delimitation exercise in the state. BJP has been raising the issue of withdrawal of a 16-year-old freeze on delimitation exercise.
Shah was also made aware about security steps being made for the Amarnath Yatra.
Stress On Energy Security
Govt also wants to avoid any fiascos that have taken in the past
- BPCL holds 10 per cent stake in the project and its share of investment comes to $2.4 billion.
- Of this $800 mn would be as equity — the single largest investment in an upstream project by the company ever. The remaining would be raised as debt.
- Sources said this investment plan requires CCEA clearance and before that, the informal group vetted it.
- Both Oil ministry & BPCL were tight-lipped about the deliberations at the meeting.
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