By SANTOSH MOHANTY
Revival of Talcher Fertilizers in Angul district might be delayed due to a number of hassles including encroachment in the plant area and supply of water to the plant from the second largest river of Odisha, Brahmani.
A high level delegation headed by the State Industries Secretary recently discussed at length on the possible measures to be initiated for revival of Talcher Fertilizers and extended the completion deadline of July 2023 to September 2024.
Sources said that as the urea producing industry was lying defunct for over decades, a large portion of its area in the township, railway and pipeline corridors are under encroachment. In addition to this, the demand of local youth for employment in the fertilizer industry has become an uphill task for the officials to find out suitable solution to the tangle.
The high level delegation also included top officials of water resources department, IDCO, IPICOL, OPTCL and Angul District Collector.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the revival of Talcher Fertilizers on September 22, 2018. Modi had then declared that the industry will be revived within three years and priority in employment will be given to the locals. However, the revival is being delayed due several factors including the above mentioned problems.
Talcher Fertilizers will be revived at a cost of Rs 13,777 crore and its annual output will be 12.7 lakh tonne. This urea producing industry will use coal gasification technology due to abundance of coal in Talcher region. Sources said that the government is yet to give the green signal for using Brahmani water for industrial purpose.
