Barauni fertilizer plant revival on the cards

PATNA: The move for revival of the now closed Barauni fertilizer plant is heading towards reality as the chemicals and fertilizer and petroleum ministries have finally identified two "anchor customers" of gas for Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) that has now started the work to implement the Haldia-Jagdishpur gas pipeline project.
The two "anchor customers" are the fertilizer plants at Barauni in Begusarai district in Bihar and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP).Earlier, GAIL had tied the feasibility of the Haldia-Jagdishpur gas pipeline project to the condition that it must have at least two major or "anchor customers", over and above the domestic consumers.
This information was given by petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan here on Sunday on the sidelines of the concluding session of the two-day state executive committee meeting of the Bihar BJP.
According to Pradhan, two more "anchor customers" have been identified for the gas to be supplied by the Haldia-Jagdishpur project. These are the fertilizer plants at Sindri in Jharkhand and Durgapur in West Bengal. Meetings have been held on the issues involved and the matter is set to be clinched.