Bhubaneswar, May 21 (IANS): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday laid the foundation stone of a LPG bottling plant of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Odisha's Balangir district.

The bottling plant at Barkhani will entail an investment of Rs 103 crore. It is likely to be commissioned by March 2020 and will cater to 14 districts of the state, Pradhan said.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot was also present on the occasion.

The Balangir plant will give a boost to the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and tribals and Dalits will be its main beneficiaries, Pradhan said.

The BPCL is coming up with another mega ethanol plant costing Rs 800 crore at Bargarh, which will use agricultural waste for production.

These projects will generate direct and indirect employment for the state's youths, the Petroleum Minister said.

BPCL CMD D. Rajkumar said that the need for a new bottling plant was felt as LPG demand was growing in the state.

LPG consumers in Odisha were 20.22 lakh on June 1, 2014, which has grown to 62.17 lakh as of May 1 this year.

The new LPG plant will be the second one in Odisha after the one in Khurda, with a bottling capacity of 42 lakh cylinders per year.

The Balangir Plant, once commissioned, will supply cooking gas cylinders to consumers in Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sonepur, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nowrangpur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Raygada and Nuapada districts.