Besides, Minister for Narmada and Major Irrigation Projects Jay Narayan Vyas, and the Leader of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary of the Congress have opposed the environmentally and politically controversial proposal for setting up crude oil import facilities at Vadinar and laying a pipeline through Gujarat.

``We should not allow BORL to lay the pipeline through the national marine park in the Gulf of Kutch near Vadinar for its proposed multi-crore refinery project, until the Madhya Pradesh Government stops putting hurdles in the way of the Sardar Sarovar dam project,'' Vyas is reported to have conveyed to Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

Vyas has also written to state chief secretary L.N.S. Mukundan stating that since the Madhya Pradesh Government has not been co-operating with Gujarat on the Narmada issue, the BORL's proposed pipeline project could be used to force the neighbouring state to resolve problems relating to the SSP.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Amarsinh Chaudhary said the Gujarat Government should not clear the pipeline project until the Madhya Pradesh Government ``assures us to cooperate on the Narmada dam issue''. The government should take the opposition into confidence before clearing the BORL's proposal of the pipeline project, he told Patel, asserting that ``Gujarat's interests cannot be allowed to be mortguaged''.

The controversy over the BORL project has been raging since the day Keshubhai Patel ``clandestinely'' cleared the file relating to it about four months ago, and sent the proposal to Delhi for the final nod from the Centre. Ironically, the state government had earlier turned down the clearance of the project on the grounds that it posed a threat to the marine life, especially the coral reefs in the Gulf of Kutch.

The chief minister's volte face was then being attributed to a directive from two top BJP bosses Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and party supremo Kushabhau Thakre who seem eager to see the BORL project through. Only last month, the Union Environment and Forests Ministry had granted permission in principle under the Forest Conservation Act to BORL.

However, the fate of the multi-crore refinery project would continue to hang in the balance until the Gujarat government grants necessary permission under the Wild Life Protection Act for laying a portion of pipeline through the Marine National Park and Marine Sanctuary off the Vadinar coast.

Besides this, the BORL has to obtain no-objection certificates from the State Roads and Building, Narmada and Water Resources, Water Supply and Revenue Departments, for the Indo-Oman joint venture company proposes to lay a cross-country pipleline to carry crude oil from Vadinar to Beena for its refinery project.

In fact, Vyas has cautioned the chief secretary to ensure that No Objection Certificates are not given to BORL. The company had also made a plea to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, All India Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) spokesman Kishorsinh Solanki has dubbed the central clearance for the Oman pipeline as a matter of shame for the ruling BJP in Gujarat and ``which shows how little the Centre cares for the Narmada project''.