Assam's Namrup fertiliser plant will not be closed: Union Minister

New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Amid reports that the Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited's (BVFCL) plant in Assam's Namrup town will be shut down, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said the news is not true and on the contrary the plant is planned to be modified and a nano urea facility will also be set up there.

Mandaviya told reporters in the national capital on Tuesday that he had a meeting with Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on this issue.

"We had a detailed meeting. The plant is not going to shut," he said.

"To provide the residents of this area with work opportunities, it will be modernized and a nano urea plant will be built there. The farmers in Assam, the rest of Northeast, and West Bengal will benefit from the urea and nano urea produced thereby increasing the yield of their crops," the Union minister added.

Mandaviya's announcement follows recent reports claiming that the fertiliser plant would be shut down in the near future.

Earlier, Gaurav Gogoi, a Congress MP from Kaliabor in Assam, asked Bhagwanth Khuba, the Union minister of state for new and renewable energy, about the current situation of Namrup fertiliser plant. Khuba responded that the meeting of the Group of Officers, presided over by the NITI Aayog, had recommended closing the fertiliser factory.  

The factory employees and workers have criticised the Centre and state administrations and threatened to lodge a protest.