Mangalore: MCF Workers Union come to streets against closure
Bellevision Media Network
Mangalore, Oct 02, 2014: The Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF) Limited workers under the banner MCF Mangala Karmika Okkuta held a protest in front of MCF headquarters, KIADB industrial area, Baikampady here on Wednesday October 1 against the closure of the company.
Addressing the protesters, MCF Mangala Karmika Okkuta president Suryanarayan pointed out at the central government for bringing about 2000 labourers to the street. He said, ‘The government had to speed up the work and provide gas connectivity as MCF recently invested about Rs 305 crore for conversion of the plant for the usage of gas. But now since the government has denied continuing, the company will completely hut down today,’ said Suryanarayan.
‘From the past one month we have done all to save the company. We have closed the company and all the reports in the media saying 60 percent or 40 percent less production, all are false information. We need some time to completely close the company, by today evening it will be completely shut down,’ said Suryanarayan.
‘Mangala brand (MCF) of chemical fertilizers is well known in Karnataka and other states of India, farmers are not willing to buy any other brand in the market other than our Mangala brand. We formed joint action committee along with Tuticorin Fertilizer ’SPIC’ and Madras Fertilizers Limited (MFL) on September 27. Our first action is to have silent protest in the respective companies demanding the government to hear the plea. If no result comes within a week, we have decided to move to Delhi and meet the PM and Union chemicals and fertilizers minister,’ said Suryanarayana.
The previous union government had directed the factory to replace naphtha with natural gas for production of ammonia and then urea to reduce the burden of subsidy on the government. The earlier deadline of April 31 was extended by six months to September 30.
While MCF has installed required machinery to produce urea using natural gas, GAIL is yet to lay a pipeline from Kochi to Mangalore to transport gas. The actual cost of production of urea per tonne using naphtha is about Rs 48,000 to Rs 50,000 while it is sold at Rs 5,300 a tonne to farmers. Under government retention price mechanism, the union government directly pays the subsidy to the factory, instead of individually paying to farmers.
MCF is the only manufacturer of chemical fertilizers in the state of Karnataka and was founded in 1974, in Baikampady Industrial Area, Dakshina Kannada district. During that time, MCF was jointly owned by the central and state government. During 1990, under the ownership of the central and the state government, the company started facing sudden losses. When losses occurred, it was Vijay Mallya who came to the rescue of the company. The UB Group owned by Mallya purchased 22 percent of the share capital while the rest remained with the government. The company has an annual turnover of Rs 3,700 crore.
Recently, the union government issued orders to MCF to stop production of urea from naphtha and switch over to LPG by end of September, or face closure.