Barauni Fertiliser Plant to restart production:Paswan

New Delhi, Nov 6 (UNI) The Barauni Fertiliser Plant in Bihar closed for the last three years would restart production.

Barauni was among the eight loss-incurring fertiliser plants closed by the previous National Democratic Alliance government, but the UPA government which suceeded it in 2004, decided to reopen the units.

The process for the plant's rejuvenation would be initiated formally by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan on November 12, he said in an interaction with UNI journalists here.

The proposal for reopening the plant had been cleared by the Union Cabinet last week.

The rejuvenation, which will be jointly done by National Fertiliser Ltd, National Chemicals and Fertiliser Ltd and KRIBHCO, would need approximately Rs 4000 Crore. The Government has waived Rs 4000 debt on the unit, he said.

The plant will be gas based and an agreement for supply of the fuel had been reached with the Gas Authority of India Ltd(GAIL), and along with the work for rejuvenation of the plant, the work for laying the gaspipeline would also begin, the Minister said.

Mr Paswan said the Andhra Pradesh Government had evinced keen interest in running the Ramagundum plant, so it will be given to it, and a committee of secretaries had been constituted to work out the proposal.

The Minister stressed the need of increasing the production of fertiliser to reduce the import costs which was leading to the increase in the subsidy. When the UPA government took over, the subsidy on fertiliser was Rs 15,000 crore which has now shot up to Rs One lakh in the current financial year.

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