It has taken a year for HPCL to rebuild the fire ravaged facilities to restore full capacity utilisation even as the chilling memories of the devastation linger. Visiting journalists from Delhi saw some of the tell tale signs of the fire that were still there.

Detailing the rebuilding process, ranging from production facilities to accounts books to an effective fire fighting system, HPCL's director refineries DS Mathur and general manager incharge K Murali said six substations, about 20 storage tanks and a number of other installations were devastated by the inferno. The corporation has made a claim of Rs 120 crore from a consortium of insurers led by New India Assurance Company for damages to property and material, besides seeking another Rs 150 crore for loss of profits.

``We claimedRs 150 crore only two weeks ago for production loss during the year- long reconstruction work, but it will take some time for settling the dues,'' Mathur said.

On their part, insurers have already made an ``on account ''payment of Rs 125 crore to the corporation during 1997-98, Murali said adding that reconstruction budget had reached Rs 85 crore till now and could go up to Rs 120 crore.

As per the audited accounts of the corporation for the year 1997-98 a total of Rs 49.29 crore had been written off due to damages and losses in respect of fixed assets, capital work in progress, stocks, stores and spares. Besides, identification was in progress in respect of fixed assets with the book value of Rs 26.6 crore.