Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertiliser Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said that the Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited will not be closed in Assam after Union Minister of State for chemicals and fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba said that a committee of a group of officers (CGO) recommended closure of the fertiliser plant. Mandaviya said he held a meeting with former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and current CM Himanta Biswa Sarma over the issue and assured that the plant would not be closed, as per an ANI report.
“…I had a meeting with Sarbananda Sonowal and I had a talk with the CM of Assam…I want to make it clear that Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited’s (BVFCL) fertiliser plant will not be closed in Assam,” he said.
“It will be modernized and a nano urea plant will also be set up there…So that the people of this area get employment opportunity and the urea and nano urea produced from there will also be useful for the farmers of Assam, Northeast, and West Bengal to increase their crop production,” he added.
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Following the revelation by Khuba regarding the closure of the plant located at Namrup in Dibrugarh district, the All Assam Students’ Union staged a mass protest in Dibrugarh. AASU members also took out a rally in Dibrugarh town before burning the effigy of the Union minister, as per a Times of India report.
On July 21, in a written reply to Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s question in Lok Sabha regarding the revival of BVFCL Namrup, Khuba mentioned that a committee of a group of officers in its meeting held on August 12, 2022, chaired by NITI Aayog CEO had recommended the closure of BVFCL among other things.
He mentioned that as per the New Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) Policy for Atmanirbhar Bharat, the “fertiliser” sector is non-strategic, and in non-strategic sectors, public sector enterprises shall be considered for privatisation, where feasible, otherwise, such enterprises shall be considered for closure.