jaipur the lack of any mention about the proposed refinery at barmer in the union budget came as a big surprise and disappointment for the state government the project has been pushed by none other than chief minister ashok gehlot and was among the major proposals sent from rajasthan for the budget major political maneuvering took place during the preparation of budget as gehlot personally met prime minister manmohan singh and petroleum minister veerappa moily to push for the refinery in its last efforts to ensure that something regarding the refinery is added in the budget the state government even agreed in principle to give a financial assistance of rs 3376 cr annually to the hindustan petroleum corporation limited for 15 years however playing down the situation industries minister rajendra pareek said we are not at all disappointed with the finance minister not mentioning about the refinery there can be some procedural delays which might have avoided any declaration the chief minister is monitoring the situation and whatever financial assistance and incentives hpcl wanted we have approved it in principle the decision is now to be taken at the hpcl board and petroleum ministry ashok gehlot has been using the refinery as a major political instrument to sway the voters in his favour and improve poll prospectus but the developments and delay so far have not been encouraging for the state