It's end of a 14-year vanvaas for the Sindri unit of Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCIL) in Dhanbad district, which had closed in 2002.
Now, it has got a fresh lease of life after the Union cabinet cleared the revival of three fertiliser units - Sindri in Jharkhand, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (both owned by FCIL) and Barauni in Bihar (Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd) - via special purpose vehicle (SPV) on Wednesday. The occasion was no less for the small township of Dhanbad to erupt in celebrations, distributing laddoos on Thursday.
The local residents, especially the former employees of Sindri, congratulated each other by distributing sweets.
A delegation of All India FCIL VSS Employees' Welfare Association, led by president Sewa Singh, also met the local BJP MLA Phul Chand Mandal at Gandhi Seva Sadan in Dhanbad and thanked him for the central government's step to revive the units with the SPV to be formed by Coal India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
These three units closed between 1990 and 2002.
Earlier in 2015, the Union government had tried to revive these units by inviting private bidders but the process failed.
MLA Mandal said Union chemical and fertilizer minister Ananth Kumar had announced the government's plan to revive the plant during a rally on Nehru Ground in Sindri on December 8, 2014. "I am happy that the government has fulfilled its promise. Sindri town has huge infrastructure, including a 200-bed well-equipped hospital, a marketplace and its own water and electricity supply system, which will be further strengthened after the revival of the factory," said Mandal, adding it would also generate direct and indirect employment for the local people.
Singh, also the former public relations officer (PRO) of the Sindri fertiliser plant, said that the factory got a fresh lease of life. "Our only concern is the mode of operation of the plant as coal-based urea plant is not economically viable while gas is not available in the area," said Singh.
He added they also expect the government to address the concerns of the former employees like them who had taken retirement under the Voluntary Separation Scheme. "Our gratuity and other dues are still lying with the FCIL," said the former PRO.
About the glorious past of the Sindri fertiliser plant, vice president of the employees' welfare association Uma Shankar Singh said it remained in profit since its inception from 1950 to 1969. "The Union government has taken the right decision. We welcome the government's move," said Singh.
