Dhanbad, Feb. 26: The Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers has prepared a fresh revival plan for the closed Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) unit in Sindri after SAIL, which had initially pledged Rs 35,000 crore for the project, decided to pull out.
Now, the ministry is planning to float an open tender, inviting both private and public companies to take part in the bidding to set up a power plant in Sindri town and restore the plant lying closed since December 31, 2002.
A note on the new proposal will be placed before Union cabinet at its next meeting.
The ministry, it is believed, has already sent copies of the cabinet note to departments of heavy engineering, energy, finance and commerce for seeking their opinion and objections, if any.
Confirming the good news, Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh, who met Union minister of chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar in Delhi recently, told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi: "There is a fresh revival plan of the closed FCI unit and Sindri township as a whole. It will be placed before the next cabinet meeting of the Narendra Modi government. Around 900 acres will be required for revival of the fertiliser factory and establishing the power plant in Sindri. There are already 2,500 acres of encroachment-free land in the township."
As for SAIL's withdrawal, Union steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, confirmed that SAIL withdrew due of the lack of availability of 3,500 acres of contiguous and encroachment-free land in Sindri.
Back in Sindri, the recent hush-hush visit to the factory site by a team from the Adani Group has triggered a buzz. The team, which came on February 21, not only took stock of the closed factory and other facilities like residential quarters, but also held talks with MP Singh.
Singh confirmed the visit. "Yes, they had come to look into details like availability of land in Sindri and other infrastructure facilities." He, however, parried a reply when asked if the projects would be taken up by the private firm, saying only the Union cabinet could that call.
On February 10, a team from the Dhanbad district administration, under the chairmanship of then deputy commissioner Prashant Kumar, had carried out a physical verification of available land and other facilities in the township and submitted a report to the state government.
Hailing the new development, secretary of Sindri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and president of Sindri Bachao Morcha Dipak Kumar Dipu said: "We will welcome any plan to revive the factory as Sindri has all infrastructure, including a 6km network of internal roads, more than 6,500 quarters, a water filtration plant, a 205-bed hospital, which is shut now. But we also want the government to make arrangements for rehabilitation of those rendered jobless by the plant's closure."
Set up in 1951, FCI in Sindri was India's first factory to produce ammonium sulphate. Since 1959, it started producing urea and ammonium nitrate sulphate. It was declared sick in 1992 and the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) recommended its closure in 2001.
