Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on August 11, 2020, reviewed the progress of three upcoming projects of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) at Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri in New Delhi.
Arun Kumar Gupta, MD, HURL, gave a brief presentation on progress of all the three projects and said that Gorakhpur, Sindri, and Barurani projects have achieved 80 %, 74 %, and 73 % progress so far. However, the projects have been affected due to lockdown, travel restrictions, unavailability of laborers and so on. Situation has now improved and sufficient manpower, although lesser by 20 % than pre covid level, have been mobilised to resume the work at all the three sites. Although there could be delay in commissioning by five to six months from scheduled deadline, Gupta assured that all the three projects would be commissioned by end of the next year.
Gowda said that aggressive catch up plan must be prepared to compensate for the delay emanating from challenges due to covid-19. He suggested that video conferencing may be used to connect with consultants from foreign countries as travel restriction is expected to continue for some time. Once the three projects are commissioned by end of next year, domestic capacity would increase by 38.1 Lakh MT, thereby increase Atma Nirbharta in urea production. Commissioning of these projects will bring benefits to the nation in terms of reduced import dependency, saving of foreign exchange, generation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, tax receipts for Government etc, according to a PIB release.
Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) was incorporated on June 15, 2016, as a joint venture company by Coal India Limited (CIL), NTPC Limited (NTPC), and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the lead promoters with Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Limited (HFCL) as other two partners. Through HURL, Government of India is reviving three closed urea plants of FCIL and HFCL at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni, each having annual capacity of 12.7 Lakh MT.