The Ministry has asked BORL to change the alignment of its subsea/on-shore route incorporated in its original proposal so that marine life, especially the coral reef, in the ecologically fragile Gulf of Kutch is not disturbed.

Confirming receipt of a written directive to Forest and Environment Department, sources in the Sachivalaya on Thursday told Express Newsline that this would would be conveyed to BORL.

In the light of this development, certain senior BORL officials, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation's managing director J B S Hazooria, are likely to hold discussion with the Government in the next couple of days, the sources said, adding Hazooria was, in fact, to visit Gandhinagar on Thursday but he could not make it.

A change in the alignment of the subsea pipeline route would entail additional financial burden on BORL as it would have to take a longer route for laying the pipeline skirting the park. ``The possibility of BORL incurring about Rs 100 crore more can't be ruled out'', the sources said.

Last week The Indian Express had reported that Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel had cleared the environmentally and politically controversial proposal for setting up crude oil import facilities near Vadinar and a pipeline through the State for the Rs 7,000-crore Indo-Oman refinery project at Beena in Madhya Pradesh.

The file was cleared by Patel with minimum fuss and fanfare, keeping concerned ministers and officials in the dark, and the proposal was sent to Delhi for approval. Ironically, the Patel Government had earlier turned down the clearance for the project on the grounds that it posed a threat to marine life in the Gulf of Kutch. But, Patel's volte face was attributed to the ``wishes of two BJP big bosses - Atal Behari Vajpayee and Kushabhau Thakre - who are eager to see the project through''.

Former RJP chief minister Dilip Parikh had observed that ``Keshubhai Patel has cleared the project to please Thakre who is keen to see the multi-crore project through in his home State of Madhya Pradesh so that his party can extract political mileage in the coming Assembly elections there''.

In fact, the Ministry has been expressing concern over the large number of projects coming up in the Gulf of Kutch.