Urea Shortage Deepens As RFCL Halts Production Again

KARIMNAGAR: As farmers across Telangana struggle with a severe shortage of urea, production at the Ramagundam Fertiliser Company Limited (RFCL) has once again come to a halt due to a gas pipeline leakage in Ramagundam, Peddapalli district.

This is the second such incident in just one month, raising serious concerns for the ongoing kharif season. Production was first stopped on July 16 due to a technical problem and resumed only on August 4. However, the company was forced to shut down again two days ago after another gas pipeline leak was detected.

According to sources, repairs are expected to be completed by August 22. Even then, the plant will require a three-day cooling period followed by a three-day start-up process, which means urea production will not resume for at least a week.

RFCL was expected to produce between 3,500 and 3,800 metric tons of urea per day. However, frequent leaks have made it nearly impossible to meet Telangana’s kharif season target of 60,000 metric tons. Officials said repair work costs over ₹1 crore and requires approval from the corporate office in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Congress MP from Peddapalli, Gaddam Vamshi Krishna, has written to the Centre demanding that the RFCL corporate office be relocated to Ramagundam or at least to Hyderabad. He argued that having experts locally available would ensure quicker decisions and repairs, noting that corporate offices for similar plants in other states are located within those states.

Ramagundam MLA Makkan Singh Raj Thakur accused the Centre of neglecting the RFCL plant. He demanded that Telangana be allotted 30 per cent of the urea produced at the plant and that local truck operators be given the opportunity to transport it. He warned that if the demands are not met, a ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest will be organised soon.