There should not be any discrimination in supply of gas between urea and NPK fertilisers in the country, the chairman of a Parliamentary panel on fertilsers has said.
"I earnestly request you to maintain highest priority for fertiliser sector and not to discriminate between urea and NPK fertilisers producers in the supply of domestic gas," Member of Parliament Anandrao Adsul, who is also the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers, said in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
He also added that keeping in view the court's order upholding the appeal of Deepak Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (DFPCL), the supply of domestic gas should also be restored to the company as it is being continued to other state-run firms RCF and GSFC.
The Shiv Sena MP from Amravati also said that he is surprised to learn that now the government is considering to stop supply of domestic gas to RCF and GSFC as well.
"These are the three plants which make superior grade complex fertilisers based on indigenous ammonia for which domestic natural gas has been supplied...It has been established that production of these fertilisers is not viable on costly imported gas, if domestic gas is discontinued to these plants, they may have to stop production...," he said in the letter.
Adsul added the closure of plants would impact the availability of indigenous fertilisers and increase dependence on imports.
He also stated that NPK fertilisers are essential for maintaining soil health and ideal NPK ratio (nitrogen, phosphorus and potash).
At present, gas is pooled for urea players as the price of soil nutrients is fixed and the government pays the difference between cost of production.
In case of NPK fertilisers, manufacturers are free to decide on the selling price as the government only provides fixed subsidy.
Gas is used as feedstock to manufacture ferilisers, it accounts for 60-65 per cent of the total cost of production.
Meanwhile, the government is looking to check the unbalanced use of fertilisers, as the excessive use of urea is deteriorating soil health and at the same time impacting agricultural output and farmers' income.
