TN asks Centre to extend deadline for fertiliser plants to switch to gas

The Tamil Nadu government has asked Centre to give adequate time to naphtha-based fertiliser plants to switch to gas-based production. It also said the ministries and organisations concerned under the Government of India should provide for the gas connectivity.

The state has two major urea fertiliser plants - SPIC, Tuticorin, and Madras Fertilizers Ltd., Manali, in Chennai, a central PSU. They together produce about 1 million tonne per annum, forming bulk of naphtha-based urea produced in the country. SPIC alone has a capacity of 62.5 million tonnes per annum and most of the year the facility is up and running.

Under the New Pricing Scheme III (NPS III), the Department of Fertilisers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had issued a directive on April 2, 2014, mandating that all naphtha-based urea-producing fertiliser plants switch to gas and that they would not be eligible for any subsidy after June 30, 2014.


BS