Hope for ailing PSUs; Rs 6000 cr package approved for revival of Sindri unit of FCIL

REKINDLING hope for the revival of ailing as well as closed PSUs, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 21 gave its approval for the revival of closed urea unit of Fertilizer Corporation India Limited (FCIL) at Sindri (Jharkhand) with an investment of Rs 6000 crore.
The PSU unit was lying...
defunct and was not in operation since 2002.
Therefore, the unit and other associated facilities were lying unutilized. It is important to mention here that there is no functional urea unit in the Eastern part of the country except two small units at Namrup (Assam).
The annual consumption of urea in the country is approx. 310 LMT, out of which 230 LMT is produced indigenously and rest is imported. To enhance the production of urea indigenously, Govt. has earlier approved the revival of Talcher (Odisha) & Ramagundam (Telangana) units of FCIL by PSUs through 'nomination route' and Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) & Gorakhpur unit of FCIL through 'Bidding route'. Now Sindri unit is approved for revival through 'Bidding route'. Earlier, its revival was to be done through PSUs (SAIL & NFL).
The setting up of a new unit at Sindri will meet the growing demand of urea in the States of Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. It will also ease the pressure on railway and road infrastructure due to long distance transportation of urea from Western and Central Regions and thereby saving in govt. subsidy on freight. It will also accelerate the economic development of the region. Apart from growth of regional economy, this unit will create opportunities for 500 direct and 3000 indirect employments.
Earlier, the minister for chemicals & fertilizers Ananth Kumar said that government proposes to from two joint ventures for the revival of closed fertilizers plants at Talcher in Odisha and at Ramagundam in Telangana.
He stated this after a joint review meeting held on September 26 over this issue with MoS (independent charge) petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan. Secretary in the ministry of coal and CMD of Coal India Limited (CIL), secretary, department of fertilizers and other officials were also present in the meeting. The minister said an investment of about Rs 9,000 crore is proposed to be made towards reviving these projects.
Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. (FCIL) has five units at Sindri (Jharkhand), Talcher (Odisha), Ramagundam (Telangana), Gorakhpur (U.P.) & Korba (Chhattisgarh). These units were shutdown during the period 1990-2002. Government of India (GOI) decided in September 2002, to close operations of of FCIL and release all its employees under Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS). These units have huge infrastructure facilities like sizable land bank, residential quarters and office buildings, railway siding, tied up sources of electricity and water.
There are seven PSUs in the fertilizer sector having total of 23 manufacturing plants, and out of which only six plants are in profit.
The PSUs which are operating in the fertilizer sector are Rashtriya Chemicals & fertilizers (RCF), National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Madras fertilizers Ltd (MFL), Fertilizers And Chemicals Travancore (FACT), Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizers Corporation Ltd (BVFCL), Fertilizers Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizers Corporation Ltd (HFCL).