The Hindu Business Line : PM’s intervention sought to resolve FACT crisis

Kochi, July 10 Given the steep rise in raw materials cost, making it difficult for the public sector Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) to sustain production on a continuous basis, intervention of the Prime Minister has been sought to resolve the crisis by providing a special dispensation for the company for its continued operations till LNG is made available.

“The company is in deep crisis and the recent steep price increase of sulphur and rock phosphate has worsened the situation to the verge of its closure,” Mr K. Chandran Pillai, MP and Member, Standing Committee on Labour and Public Undertakings, said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

He told Business Line that the delay in the commissioning of Petronet LNG terminal here and various other factors such as the pricing system had forced him to take up the issues with the Prime Minister.

According to Mr Pillai, capital restructuring carried out in 2006 had only a limited impact on the performance of FACT. Even though this has helped the company to come out of the purview of BIFR, the un-anticipated increase in the raw material prices much above the levels taken for Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) projections has seriously affected the performance of the company. Because of these factors, which are beyond the control of the company, the anticipated turn around by 2006-07 is delayed.

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