Sindri plant revival report after BIFR nod-it may take about a year in bringing the entire project on surface.(I HOPE HFC BARAUNI FACTORY ALSO REVIVE)

Sindri plant revival report after BIFR nod

TNN | Sep 27, 2011, 01.04PM IST



SINDRI: Groundwork for preparing a detailed project report for revival of the closed Sindri fertilizer factory (SFF) will begin only after getting a green signal from the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Joint secretary of the fertilizer ministry Shamlal Goyal said although paper work for setting up steel and urea plants along with a captive power plant in Sindri was going on, it may take about a year in bringing the entire project on surface.

Talking to newspersons after visiting the SFF premises and the township, Goyal said the revival issue was still with the BIFR, which has fixed November 15 as the next date of hearing. "There are many formalities including clearance of dues of creditors to be completed before finalization of the proposal," the official said.

The Union government has decided to hand over the assets of the closed factory to the SAIL for setting up steel and urea plants. The official, however, was noncommittal over the question of rehabilitation of town residents. "Nothing in this regard has come before the government and once groundwork for setting up the plants start, this issue can also be included in the list of considerations. But it will be too premature to say anything in this regard at this moment," he said.

On the shortage of urea in Jharkhand and Bihar, the bureaucrat denied any scarcity in the country. Nearly 75% quantity of the total requirement of urea is produced indigenously where as the rest 25% is imported.

"This year we have imported urea in much higher quantity than the requirement. The crisis, if any, is because of delay and other discrepancies in distribution which we are looking into. The farmers need not worry for urea," he added.

Earlier, talking to the representatives of FCI, VSS Employees Welfare Association, Goyal said providing accommodation facility on lease to all the former employees was not feasible. Intuc leader Ajay Kumar requested the official to consider making high pressure coal gasification the main feedstock for the proposed urea plant as Sindri was situated in a coal belt.

Raising questions over the policy of retaining retired officials, Kumar said despite the central government's decision to consider redeploying those former employees who had more than 10 years of service left at the time of closure of the factory, the management was not hiring them. He also raised the issue of lapses in security arrangements of the factory and alleged that assets worth over Rs 100 crore had already been stolen from the factory and there was no complaint to police in this regard.