RFCL’s Repeated Machinery Failures Leading to Telangana Urea Shortage
Mazdoor Union demands shifting RFCL HQ
Adilabad: Poor maintenance of machinery and repeated failures in the heat transform reformer (HTR) have led to frequent shutdowns of production at Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) plant. The plant, revived in 2021 with gas-based technology from Denmark, has witnessed three production halts in five months in the 2025-26 financial year.
Production last came to a halt on August 14 due to an ammonia pipeline leakage and HTR malfunction. Repairs are expected to take another 10 days, taking the reopening of the plant to September.
Earlier, production was stopped on May 8 for annual maintenance and resumed on June 16. Within a month, on July 16, a fresh ammonia leak forced another shutdown, with production resuming only on August 4. Then came the latest shutdown another 10 days later.
Officials said the HTR, critical for producing ammonia and urea, was found to have cracks in plugs, elbows, and inconel tubes during annual repairs. Experts concluded the HTR could only operate at 70-80 per cent load.
Telangana, which holds an 11 per cent equity stake and a 45 per cent production share in RFCL, has faced setbacks in its urea supply. Of the total 11.94 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of urea produced last year, only 4.68 LMT were supplied to the state. The government had sought an additional 2.59 lakh tonnes for 2025 and requested 60,000 tonnes per month during the Kharif season. The Centre promised just 30,000 tonnes a month and failed to meet even that commitment.
Local representatives and villagers have raised safety concerns, warning that ammonia leaks pose a threat to workers and nearby communities. They have urged the state government to intervene and press for urgent corrective measures.
Ambati Naresh Yadav, president of the RFCL Mazdoor Union, blamed poor maintenance and delays in addressing technical issues for the frequent breakdowns. He alleged that the RFCL headquarters in Noida was unable to respond quickly to technical problems and demanded it be shifted to Telangana for better oversight. He also accused long-serving officials of fostering corruption and mismanagement.
The crisis is not limited to Telangana. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh are also facing acute shortages of urea during the peak agricultural season.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow district, farmers queued from early morning at Gosainganj distribution centres but returned empty-handed. “Officials claim there is adequate urea, but the ground reality is different,” said Aravind Kumar, a small farmer who has been waiting for days to procure urea for his two bighas of land.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur and Chhindwara, farmers staged road blockades and protests demanding immediate supplies. Similar demonstrations were reported in Karnataka, where farmers accused the Centre of cutting down the state’s urea allocation.
RFCL has a target of producing 12.5 lakh metric tonnes of urea in 2025-26, with a daily production of 3,850 tonnes. But with machinery troubles persisting and Centre-state disagreements over allocation, farmers in multiple states are left struggling to access fertiliser at a critical time.
