PEDDAPALLI: Urea production at Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL), which has been halted for the past few days due to technical problems, may take another week to resume. Authorities had earlier said that production would restart on August 22 or 23.
According to sources, the gas-based plant has had leakages around 10 times unofficially, though RFCL has admitted to only four such leaks. These repeated leaks forced the management to suspend operations several times this year.
The most recent stoppage was on August 14, when technical issues again stalled production. The plant’s full capacity is 2,200 metric tonnes per day (MTPD) of ammonia and 3,850 MTPD of neem-coated urea. Authorities and technical experts, including foreign specialists, are working to restore production.
Farmers’ expectations have been dampened due to these problems. Ramagundam MLA Makkan Singh Raj Thakur, who recently inspected the plant, alleged that substandard pipelines were the main reason for repeated leakages. He demanded a CBI probe into the fraud and poor-quality pipelines. He also said that urea released under pressure was sent to Peddapalli farmers.
It is learnt that RFCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) U Saravanan visited the plant on Wednesday and held a series of review meetings. The plant has been facing technical issues in its High Temperature Reformer (HTR), which need to be fixed to prevent ammonia pipeline leakages.
Representatives of a Denmark-based company, along with technical teams from Chennai and Mumbai, are working to identify the problem. Sources said a permanent repair would cost Rs 150 crore–Rs 200 crore, and a high-level committee would have to make a decision. Otherwise, only temporary repairs may be carried out, which could lead to the issue recurring at any time, the sources added.