Fire destroys urea plant in Talcher

Talcher, Orissa, Apr 6 (UNI) A major fire broke out in the coal based urea plant in Talcher, lying defunct since 2001, destroying heavy equipment and infrastructure badly.

Official sources said the fire in the plant was noticed around 1400 hours by the guards, deployed on the premises. Over ten fire tenders from NALCO, NTPC and other sources were pressed into service by the local authority to extinguish the blaze.

The timely action of the authority prevented the fire to spread to the nearby Heavy Water Plant.

Senior district officials have rushed to the site to supervise the operation.

However, sources said the fire might have spread from the nearby bushes.

The fertilizer plant, which was commissioned in 1980s, was closed down in 1998 following heavy losses. All efforts to revive the plant by the BIFR failed and finally the plant was shut down in 2001 and the employees were given VRS.

Only a handful of employees were kept to guard the plant and the residential colony was abandoned.

UNI