A major fire broke out near the crude distillation unit of the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL) at Pachpadra in Rajasthan’s Balotra district on Monday, a day before its scheduled inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thick black smoke was seen rising from the site as the blaze spread near the refinery’s main processing unit, often referred to as its core. Officials said the fire was brought under control in about two hours and no casualties were reported.Following the incident, the Prime Minister’s programme to dedicate the refinery to the nation on April 21 was postponed.The Union Petroleum Ministry, in a post on X, said, "Due to an unfortunate fire incident today in the vicinity of the Crude Distillation Unit at the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited
(HRRL) refinery, the scheduled dedication of the refinery by the Prime Minister on 21.04.2026 has been postponed. The fire has been brought under control. There are no reports of any casualties."It added that a revised date for the inauguration will be announced later and an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire and take corrective measures.In a separate post, HPCL said, "An unfortunate accident occurred today at around 1.55 pm at HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd. (HRRL) at Pachpadra, Balotra. There was a fire in the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) section of the refinery complex. Prima facie, it appears that leakage of hydrocarbons through one of the valves/flanges in the heat exchanger circuit caused the fire.
VIDEO | A fire broke out at the Pachpadra refinery in Rajasthan's Balotra district, a day before its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Fire tenders rushed to the spot and efforts were underway to douse the flames. No immediate reports of casualties available. More… pic.twitter.com/eT2xD4vsB4
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 20, 2026
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