Patna, Dec 16: The Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) refinery at Barauni in Bihar has been put on full alert following intelligence reports that the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) is planning to blow up the facility, which runs on crude oil piped in from Assam. The separatist organisation had destroyed three pipelines in Assam on November 28, which it observes as a protest day every year.

Security steps were reviewed on December 6 at a high-level meeting at Begusarai, the district headquarters of Barauni, after the state was informed by the army about Ulfa's plans. Army intelligence in Assam had intercepted an Ulfa wireless message to the effect that the militants planned to blow up the refinery as a sequel to the pipeline blasts. The Barauni refinery, commissioned in 1965, has been a sore point with diehard Assamese as it came up in Bihar with a capacity of 3.3 million tonnes a year (mtpa) based on oil from Assam's fields. When Assam asked for its own refinery, it got one at Guwahati with a meagre capacity of 0.75 million tonnes. After decades of tension, the centre cleared a 3 mtpa refinery at Numaligarh under the Assam accord in 1995.

The December 6 meeting was attended by officials of the district administration, the refinery, the special branch of the local police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the installation.

The discussions were reported to the state's home secretary and police chief, who have detailed a 15-point plan to increase security in the region. IOC's marketing department has alerted its nine supply points in the state.

It has been decided that top administration and police officials of the district will hold review meetings every Tuesday.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.