Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI), in its maiden meeting, urged the petroleum and defence ministries to resolve their differences on giving approval to the development of 46 oil and gas blocks in one month.
It is learnt that delay in giving clearance by the defence ministry to these blocks has hampered investments of Rs 92,000 crore.
Defence ministry drags its feet in clearing these exploration projects because it feels that the permanent drill ships will be security hazard in sensitive areas with Navy or Air Force installations, but the oil ministry has claimed that the ships are temporary ones.
The Cabinet Secretariat had found that some of the projects date back a decade and are stranded because the defence ministry has raised the red flag on them.
Although, industry players expected the CCI to give approval for these blocks, the committee left the decision to these two ministries.
It may be recalled that in December 2012, the Cabinet Secretariat too had set a one month deadline, which expired.
The CCI has been set up to clear projects of Rs 1,000 crore and more by the government to break the perception that project clearances are getting stalled in the country.
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