Govt planning to use coal to produce cheaper urea: Ahir

In a major shift to turn around the fertilizer sector, the government is planning to use coal instead of gas for making urea, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said today.
While speaking at a function here, Ahir also announced that his ministry is in touch with the Coal Ministry to acquire coal to achieve the target.
"At present, gas is used as energy to produce urea in our country. These plants consume high amount of gas in their production process. Now, we want to shift to coal from gas. China is producing urea using coal, that is the reason why their urea is cheaper," said Ahir.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of 4th edition of International Exhibition and Conference on Specialty, Fine Chemicals, Agro chemicals and Colorants held at Mahatma Mandir here today.
In his speech, he called on all the stake holders, including the private players of fertilizer industry, to come forward in the endeavor of shifting to coal from gas.
"I have personally met the Coal Minister earlier on this issue. He has given me an assurance that we will be alloted a coal block for this purpose. He also asked us to take part in the coal block auction," said Ahir.

"China is selling cheaper urea because they are using coal. I urge all the private players to shift to coal. It will also reduce your cost of production. I want you to start doing R&D on this technology and come up with your solutions. We all will work together," said Ahir.

He further hinted to introduce PPP (Public Private Partnership) model to restart defunct fertilizer plants.
"I want to tell the industry to not to bother about the infrastructure. We have enough land with us. Nine of our fertilizer plants are lying dysfunctional. We want to rope-in private players on PPP model to start production at these plants if the production is based on coal-based energy," added Ahir.

Without taking names, Ahir claimed that Indian mining industry failed to take off due to lack of clear policies and initiatives taken in the past.