Centre working on Bureau of Corrosion Control

National Bureau of Corrosion Control is part of National Chemical Policy which is in final stages of approval

Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals is planning to set up a National Bureau of Corrosion control on the lines of Bureau of Energy Effeciency ( BEE), as part of strategic and  commercial dialogue with United States, said Surjit Kumar Chaudhary, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), with the department of chemicals & petrochemicals.

Speaking to the industry representatives in Corcon 2015, organised by NACE International Gateway India Section (NIGIS), he said, "As a part of strategic and commercial dialogue with the United States government is committed to deal with it and we have already proposed setting up of National Bureau of Corrosion Control on the lines of Bureau of Energy Efficiency. It is part of the National Chemical Policy and approval of the policy has reached almost final stages. We are in a very advanced to stage to help you out."

He said growth of the country is linked to growth of Chemicals and Petrochemicals industry and since it is linked to various walks of life, the success of Make in India depends upon how supply of these chemicals and petrochemicals could be improved.

The government is in search of alternate sources to the basic products and Coal Ministry has already gone out with coal gasification plan. As part of National Chemical Policy, the department is proposing setting up a mission for alternate source for feedstock. The government is also in dialogue with Iran to set a big facility to make feedstock in Chabahar, Iran, which is almost 1,000 km from chemical belt of south Gujarat and north Maharashtra.

Speaking about corrosion and its role in various defence missions in the country, V K Saraswat, member, NITI Aayog, said there is an urgent need for exploring low cost solutions to control corrosion in the highly corrosive industries including ultra mega thermal power plants.

Experts commented that cost of corrosion in the economy is around three to 4% of country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and controlling it would result in improving economic scenario of the country.