Downstream plastic units in West Bengal have sought chief minister Mamata Banerjee's intervention in the Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) impasse with the plant's lengthy closure creating an air of uncertainty over their operational existence.
"Our very existence has now become uncertain since we are not aware when the HPL plant will re-start operations. Even the HPL management is not sharing any information with us when sought", secretary of Indian Plastics Federation (IPF) Ashok Jajodia told PTI.
The HPL plant was put under shutdown on July six following a technical snag in the mother naphtha cracker plant.
Jajodia said that the federation had also written a letter to Purnendu Chatterjee, one of the promoters, but there was also no response from him.
"So left with no option, we wrote to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking her intervention for an early re-opening of the plant", he said.
According to him, there were nearly 5,000 downstream units in the state which were mostly dependent on HPL for raw materials.
These units were giving direct and indirect employment to nearly 50,000 people, Jadodia said.
He said that these units were now operating at a very low capacity by sourcing inputs from Mumbai, Delhi and Kanpur.
"If the HPL shutdown continued for long, then these units will also close down", he said, adding that a negative message would go out to the rest of the country.
