GORAKHPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone for the revival of a sick fertilizer plant here, a move which will create up to 4,000 jobs and ensure adequate supply of nutrients to farmers in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi also laid the foundation stone for setting up of an All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) at an estimated cost of Rs 1,011 crore to provide super-specialty healthcare to people of the state and create a large pool of doctors.
The plant belonging to the Fertiliser Corporation India Ltd (FCIL) has been lying idle since 1990s. It would be revived through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of public sector units (PSUs) at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore.
NTPC, Coal India and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) have formed a joint venture in this regard and a tender will soon be floated to finalize the contractor.
A presentation said the revival of the plant is expected to offer 3,000-4,000 jobs to skilled workforce in the state and ensure easy availability of urea to farmers.
The country’s urea output this year is estimated to rise to 25 million tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal, still lower than the annual demand of 32 million tonnes. The balance is met through imports.
In a presentation made at the event, PM was informed that the AIIMS, which will be set up at a 24,000 sqm area, will have 150 operation theaters and 750 beds.
The Cabinet had recently approved these two proposals.
Health Minister J P Nadda, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra, Fertiliser Minister Ananth Mishra, Minister of State for Power and Coal Piyush Goyal, UP Governor Ram Naik and BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, among other were present at the event.
Local MP Yogi Adityanath thanked the Prime Minister for fulfilling his promise of revival of fertiliser factory made at a rally in January, 2014 here.
He said that they had requested six Prime Ministers earlier to revive the plant which was shut in 1990 but nothing happened.
“The people of Gorakhpur used to say that the same will happen again but I used to tell them that it would not happen now and the promise will be met,” he added.
For Gorakhpur fertiliser plant’s revival, Rs 6000 crore will be invested for producing 12.7 lakh tonnes of urea.–PTI
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
