A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: The Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) has sought the complete rejuvenation of the Namrup-based Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Limited (BVFCL) which has been on a verge of extinction due to low production and outdated machinery.
Addressing a press conference at the Greater Dibrugarh Press Club on Saturday, CITU Dibrugarh district president Kishore Chakravarty said that the government has failed to fulfil its promise of reviving BVFCL which is one of the oldest fertiliser plant of the country. The trade union leader also came down heavily on the Centre and the State government for the delay in setting up the proposed fourth unit of the fertiliser plant.
Former Union Fertiliser Minister late Ram Vilas Paswan during his visit to Namrup on June 26, 2006, had announced that a state-of-the-art fourth unit of the BVFCL will be set up to revive the BVFCL fertiliser plant.
“Almost 17 years have passed when the first announcement for setting up a fourth unit of the BVFCL plant was made. But it only remained on paper. The first unit of the fertiliser plant was shut down 37 years ago while the second and third units are barely functioning. We want the government to take steps to revive the second and third unit to ensure 100 per cent production. At the same time the proposed fourth unit should be set up without further delay. The fate of 800 employees of BVFCL are hanging in balance,” Chakravarty said.
In 2018, the Centre had approved in-principle the proposal for setting up of a state-of-the-art brownfield ammonia urea unit (Namrup-4) at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore. An equity share of 52% for Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF), 26% for Oil India Limited (OIL), 11% for the Assam government and 11% for BVFCL was also proposed by the government.
However no progress has been seen since then. The Namrup-1 unit of the BVFCL which was set up in 1969 was shut down. While the remaining two units, Namrup-2 set up in 1976 and Namrup-3 set up in 1987 are struggling to stay afloat. Due to outdated technologies and machineries there has been huge decline in the production of urea in the two units in recent years because of which the fertiliser plant is unable to cater to the huge demand of urea in the country.
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