SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, July 11: The starting of urea production in Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (HURL) Sindri, one of the dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has plunged into limbo again as in four years, the 5th Group General Manager (GGM) has been transferred.
Kameshwer Jha, who assumed the office of HURL Sindri GGM last year, has been transferred to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Durgapur, West Bengal.
Jha himself informed the media about his transfer and said that he would hand over the charge this week. The union ministry of fertilizer has yet to announce the name of his successor.
In June, HURL Sindri’s local management had claimed to have completed 99% of the project work and said that they will start the production in July or the first week of August.
But today, the local officials of HURL said that with the change of GGM, the beginning of the production process may get delayed further as the new GGM would have to take at least five to six months to learn the status of the project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of HURL Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni units on May 25, 2018, at the cost of Rs 18,000 crores. HURL Sindri replaced the closed factory of FCI to produce 3,850 lakh megatonnes (MT) of neem-coated urea per annum.
As per the schedule, the project had to be completed in three years by May 2021. The local management announced three dates for production but all failed.
FCI VSS Employees Association has blamed the frequent change of GGM as the main reason behind the delay in the completion of the project. So far, not a single GGM has been allowed to complete even one year of tenure.
Sujit Chawla, M C Karan, Sunil Kumar Sinha, Himmat Singh Chowhan and now Kameswar Jha have been transferred within a year.
FCI VSS Employees Association has shot off a memorandum to the PMO and the ministry of fertilizer to find out the reason for the delay in the project to know whether it is the technical reason or political pressure that does not allow a GGM to stay here for more than a year.
“Whenever a GGM settles in Sindri and finalizes the production date, he is transferred resulting in the production date getting delayed from time to time,” said Sewa Singh, the president of FCI VSS Employees Welfare Association.
