Talcher: The NDA-led government at the Centre has announced to revive the now defunct Talcher fertilizer plant and make it operational by 2018, but a reality check indicates that the revival of the project still remains a pipedream.
The NDA government has claimed that the renovation work will begin after laying the foundation stone for the plant in November 2016. Once operation is resumed, the plant will annually produce 13 lakh tonne of urea.
However, the dilapidated plant is yet to be demolished and the premises handed over to a new company. No employee has been appointed yet for the plant.
A clear picture on the technical knowhow to be used in revival of the plant is yet to emerge while the nodal body, the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), is yet to receive any order in this regard. Even the Centre is silent on establishment of ammonia, power and gasification plants for the fertilizer unit.
Despite these issues, the Union government is making tall claims of starting manufacturing fertilizer from the plant in 2018.
According to reports, the coal based fertilizer plant was established over 700 acre of land here in the 1970s. The plant started its first commercial production from 1980 when its production capacity was 1500 tonne urea and 900 tonne ammonia daily. But the unit was manufacturing 1000-1200 tonne of urea daily. It had 1,400 permanent employees and 3,000 casual workers till the 1990s.
Subsequently, its production declined due to various reasons. The then Congress government at the Centre stopped financing the plant due to the constant decline in production. The Union government declared it a sick unit in 1991 and sent a proposal in 1992 to the Board of Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR) to decide on its future.
The plant kept on operating even after a proposal was sent to the BIFR. Later, the NDA government ordered to stop manufacturing from the plant in April 1999. The BIFR decided to close down the unit in 2002 as no steps were taken for its revival. As a result, about 1,196 employees were given voluntary retirement from the plant December 31, 2002.
The plant had remained closed since then and a revival plan was moved in 2009 when then Union minister of fertilizer Srikant Jena of the UPA government visited the plant twice in 2009 and 2010 and conducted review meetings. He even opened a site office in one of the old buildings of the plant October 15, 2012 and announced the revival of the plant.
However, the dream was shattered after the Centre decided to sell the plant. The Centre-owned Metal Scrap and Trading Corporation (MSTC) in Vishakhapatnam sold of its machinery at `112 crore to M/s Traders Pvt Ltd in 2014. The company collected the machinery from May, 2014 till 2015.
This happened despite the government having signed MoU with state-owned RCF, GAIL and FCI. The present government at the Centre has now changed the name of the plant to Talcher Fertilizer Ltd and will invest `9,000 crore in the project. PNN
