Mumbai

The Centre is planning to set up at least 10 new urea production plants in the coal-rich states, Union Minister of State for Fertilisers and Chemicals Hansraj Ahir said today.

These plants, for making urea from coal using gasification technology, will be set up in Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra, where coal is available in large quantities, he told reporters here.

Ahir said the first of these plants will be set up in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, his Lok Sabha constituency.

“This will be a joint venture of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF) and Coal India. We have asked for a coal block to initiate the project and I am confident the process will begin soon,” he said.

“We need to adopt Chinese technology for producing urea from coal to be self-sufficient.”

At present, the country’s annual demand for the most consumed fertiliser is 31 million tonne (MT), out of which the internal production is about 22 MT, he said.

“We have to import rest of the quantity, mainly from China,” Ahir said, adding the shortage of urea is a result of its smuggling to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Minister said the Government is confident of providing at least 32 MT urea this year to states to meet their demand.

Ahir said his Ministry has planned the expansion of present RCF plant in Mumbai, which currently produces 1.5 MT.

“A plant to produce fertilisers from bio-waste of Navi Mumbai’s vegetable market is under consideration and a decision on it will be taken soon.”

He also said the RCF facility at Thal near Alibaug in adjoining Raigad district would be expanded soon. Ahir was here to discuss expansion plans of his Ministry’s units in Maharashtra with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

“Steps are also being taken to prevent black-marketing of highly subsidised urea,” the Minister said.

Ahir said the Centre will soon come up with 10 pharma -clusters. These clusters will provide common facilities to the pharmaceutical industry and help them hive off up to 25 per cent of the cost, making them globally competitive.

Supply of generic medicines, building domestic capacity in bulk drugs and making pharma sector competitive are high on NDA Government’s agenda, Ahir said.

On the issue of bulk drugs production, he said an action plan is being prepared to make Indian pharma industry viable and competitive.

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