Government in process of Reviving Closed Fertilizer Units

New Delhi, July 02(HS) Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Sadananda Gowda stated that the ministry is in process of reviving 5 closed major fertilizer units in country but there is no scarcity of fertilizers as presently the gap is filled by imports of 65 lakh metric tons. The government is infusing approximately Rs. 38000 crore for this purpose.

The five closed plants being revived are four units of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd at Talcher(Odisha), Sindri(Jharkhand), Gorakhpur(Uttar Pradesh) and Ramagundam(Andhra Pradesh) respectively and one unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd at Barauni(Bihar). The new ammonia urea plants are being installed at each place with capacity of 12.7 lakh metric ton per annum. This will raise the yearly production of indigenous urea by 63.5 lakh metric tons and fill the gap between domestic demand and supply by reducing scope for imports. This will save expenditure of Rs. 12,797.31 crore on imports.

It is noteworthy that subsidies are provided to producers of urea for compensating the less price offered by them to the farmers by government. In the financial year 2018-19, the allocation of Rs. 73,435.21 crore was made in budget for this subsidy.