NAMRUP, March 26 — Forget the Assam Accord. Forget the fact that a Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the project. Mandarins at New Delhi’s Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry have of late concluded that the subsidy bill of Rs 6,000 crore over a 15 year period is an amount that has made the Assam Gas Cracker project unviable. This was the impression spelt out this afternoon by the project’s nodal Minister, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who is also the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers.
“Personally, I am for the project and its early implementation,” he told reporters here today. Towards this end, he has circulated a Cabinet note, and he hopes the Union Cabinet will clear the matter at its next sitting. On the delay in setting up the project, he said a part of the blame has to be shared by the Assam Government “for dilly dallying in the land allocation process.” Asked if he has set himself any deadline for the project to get off the ground, he quipped :”that is not the point, for now.” He said the project’s co-promoter would not be changed in a hurry, thereby giving a clean chit to Reliance Industries.
The Union Minister said the project’s feedstock has become a problem area, as the required quantity of natural gas is not available locally. “Moreover, the alternative feedstock, LPG, is a costly proposition,” he added. He hoped that the Union Cabinet will finally resolve the project and by the Group of Ministers formed to thrash out the issue. Dhindsa was at Namrup today to inspect progress of the ongoing upgradation works at the Namrup-II plant of the Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL). He told employees of the company today that stress has to be laid on time bound completion of the work. Of the Rs 510 crore allocated for the upgradation work, the Centre has already paid out Rs 397.02 crore to the company during the current financial year. However, due to several factors, Rs 339 crore only could be spent till today. BVFCL officials blamed the firm which got the contract for the delay.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune, BVFCL CMD NK Borah said urea made at Namrup is now marketed under the “Mukta” brand name. Earlier, this was named “Moti”, when the Namrup fertilizer plants were under HFC. He said there is an urgent need for increasing the usage of chemical fertilizers in the North Eastern States. The present consumption figures here are much below those of States like Punjab and Maharashtra.
Replying to a question on alleged large scale immigration of employees from other fertilizer plants into Namrup, Borah said only a dozen odd “highly specialised engineers and technicians have been brought in.” He further informed that last year, 50 graduate engineers from within Assam were recruited into the company.
While the company has decided to open its corporate headquarters at Guwahati, there is much public resentment against the move here. To this, Dhindsa said the office can be located here, if the public so desires. He said it is generally the norm to have such offices at either the State or National Capital. But locals here are of the opinion that if the plant is at Namrup, its corporate office should also be at Namrup. They feel that a liaison office can be had at Guwahati, but the CMD of the company “should be in our midst,” said several trade union leaders, speaking to this correspondent.