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The Tamil Nadu government has asked Centre to give adequate time to naphtha-based fertiliser plants to switch to gas-based production. It also said the ministries and organisations concerned under the Government of India should provide for the gas connectivity.
The state has two major urea fertiliser plants — SPIC, Tuticorin, and Madras Fertilizers Ltd, Manali, in Chennai, a central PSU. They together produce about 1 million tonne per annum, forming bulk of naphtha-based urea produced in the country. SPIC alone has a capacity of 62.5 million tonnes per annum and most of the year the facility is up and running.
Under the New Pricing Scheme III (NPS III), the Department of Fertilisers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had issued a directive on April 2, 2014, mandating that all naphtha-based urea-producing fertiliser plants switch to gas and that they would not be eligible for any subsidy after June 30, 2014.
Both companies have invested considerably in conversion from naphtha to gas, and they are yet to be given the confirmed gas allocation by the Centre. SPIC had earlier said it had invested around Rs 300 crore in conversion of its facility, from naphtha to gas.
“They have taken up the issue with all the organisations concerned viz GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and ONGC for the gas connectivity. But, till such time as they are given gas on an assured basis, they will not be able to switch over to gas-based urea production as imported gas is almost as costly as naphtha,” said the chief minister in her letter.
She alleged: “Despite knowing all these facts and especially when the model code of conduct for the general elections were in place, the then Congress-led UPA government had taken this decision at the fag end of its tenure, completely unmindful of the interest of the farmers who are dependent on this essential fertiliser, and the hundreds of workers employed in these plants, which have to be shut down in the absence of the subsidy. The very rationale of the decision is questionable when the Government of India, which has to provide gas connectivity has not done it for no fault of the plants, and when one of these plants belongs to a central PSU.”
She asked the Prime Minister to issue immediate instructions to the fertilisers department to take a relook at the whole issue and arrive at an immediate solution keeping in mind the interests of millions of farmers and hundreds of workers by permitting these plants to continue to receive the subsidy from the Centre till such time the gas connectivity is given to them.
The state has two major urea fertiliser plants — SPIC, Tuticorin, and Madras Fertilizers Ltd, Manali, in Chennai, a central PSU. They together produce about 1 million tonne per annum, forming bulk of naphtha-based urea produced in the country. SPIC alone has a capacity of 62.5 million tonnes per annum and most of the year the facility is up and running.
Under the New Pricing Scheme III (NPS III), the Department of Fertilisers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had issued a directive on April 2, 2014, mandating that all naphtha-based urea-producing fertiliser plants switch to gas and that they would not be eligible for any subsidy after June 30, 2014.
Both companies have invested considerably in conversion from naphtha to gas, and they are yet to be given the confirmed gas allocation by the Centre. SPIC had earlier said it had invested around Rs 300 crore in conversion of its facility, from naphtha to gas.
“They have taken up the issue with all the organisations concerned viz GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and ONGC for the gas connectivity. But, till such time as they are given gas on an assured basis, they will not be able to switch over to gas-based urea production as imported gas is almost as costly as naphtha,” said the chief minister in her letter.
She alleged: “Despite knowing all these facts and especially when the model code of conduct for the general elections were in place, the then Congress-led UPA government had taken this decision at the fag end of its tenure, completely unmindful of the interest of the farmers who are dependent on this essential fertiliser, and the hundreds of workers employed in these plants, which have to be shut down in the absence of the subsidy. The very rationale of the decision is questionable when the Government of India, which has to provide gas connectivity has not done it for no fault of the plants, and when one of these plants belongs to a central PSU.”
She asked the Prime Minister to issue immediate instructions to the fertilisers department to take a relook at the whole issue and arrive at an immediate solution keeping in mind the interests of millions of farmers and hundreds of workers by permitting these plants to continue to receive the subsidy from the Centre till such time the gas connectivity is given to them.
