MANGALORE: The foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Rs. 4,900-crore ONGC-MRPL petrochemical complex was deferred after inclement weather prevented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special Air Force aircraft from landing at Bajpe airport on Friday.

ONGC-MRPL had put up a grand venue for the Prime Minister's arrival, but rain played spoilsport. The special aircraft circled the Mangalore airport and after the visibility dropped to 400 metres, the Air Traffic Control personnel ruled that the aircraft could not land and diverted it to Bangalore at 11.40 a.m., 20 minutes before the "muhurtham" for the event.

Entourage

Earlier, Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, who was scheduled to land at 8.40 a.m., had to return because of the weather conditions.The Prime Minister's entourage included Chairman of the National Administrative Reforms Committee M. Veerappa Moily and other high-level officials of the Petroleum Ministry and the Union Government. The Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who arrived in a private airliner at Bajpe airport at 10.30 a.m., waited till the last minute for the confirmation from the Prime Minister's flight and were told that Mr. Singh would be flying to Bangalore. They left for Bangalore as the protocol demanded that the two should be present to receive Mr. Singh there.

Nearly 5,000 people, who had gathered at the venue, had to return home disappointed. It was lunch hour, when ONGC-MRPL Chairman R.S. Sharma, along with his board members and Managing Director R. Rajamani, apologised to the gathering and said that the function had been deferred.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, led by its State unit president and Mangalore MP D.V. Sadananda Gowda staged a dharna at the venue and squatted on the floor along with a few other MLAs. The MP wanted Mr. Sharma to apologise for the officials ignoring the people's representatives. The dharna went on for an hour as Mr. Sharma had proceeded to the airport to see off the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister.

He rushed back to the venue. He explained Mr. Gowda the circumstances under which the function was deferred. The MP later ended his dharna.

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