Govt will not hike urea prices for the next 3 yrs

The Dollar Business Bureau

The government decided not to hike urea prices for the next three years, said Union MoS for Chemical and Fertilizers, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.

While addressing the gathering present at the NDA government’s ‘Vikas Parv,’ Ahir stated that some measures have to be implemented to benefit farmers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government strives for the welfare of the farmers. Ahir was accompanied by the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju for the event.

The minister advised farmers to use neem-coated urea as it requires less investment and output too increases than with the usage of the regular urea, Ahir added.

Meanwhile, plans are afoot to revive FCI’s Talcher fertilizer plant which may commence soon with an investment of Rs.6000 crore. The revival of the plant is an alliance between the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilisers (RCF), Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Coal India Limited (CIL), that started in 2015.

Ahir also revealed that the technology, which will be used to produce 1.2 million tonnes of urea, has been finalized.

The Centre had introduced a soil-health card for farmers and sanctioned Rs.435 crore for the purpose, revealed Ahir. About 14 crore soil-health cards are expected to be distributed among the farmers. If the Odisha state government submits its Detail Project Report, then the Centre could look into sanctioning a pharmaceutical production unit in the town of Berhampur, Ganjam district of Odisha.