The NDA Government will take steps to revive all closed urea plants and establish petrochemical hubs across the country, said Ananth Kumar, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers on Wednesday.
“We will take steps to revive all closed urea plants and a blueprint would be prepared in this regard,” Kumar told presspersons soon after assuming charge of the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry.
Ananth Kumar, who defeated former UIDAI Chairman and Infosys Managing Director Nandan Nilekani to get re-elected from Bangalore South for the sixth time, said his Ministry would come out with a vision and policy document for achieving self-sufficiency in fertilisers.
India is currently a net importer of both urea and complex fertilisers such as Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Muriate of Potash (MoP).
The Government, Kumar said, plans to set up a new urea unit at Namrup in Assam and a manufacturing facility for single super phosphate (SSP) would be set up at Rajasthan. Also, the Government aims to increase supplies of neem-coated urea to farmers, which currently stands at around 30 per cent of total urea supplies.
Further, Kumar assured the farmers that there would be sufficient supplies of urea and other complexes to meet the demand in the forthcoming kharif season. He, however, refused to comment on issues relating to gas price hike and the long-pending revision in urea prices.
Kumar also said the Narendra Modi-led Government would work towards making available generic drugs at affordable prices to consumers. The Government would work towards setting up petrochemical hubs across the country — mainly in Tamil Nadu, Assam and Odisha.