Fire at fertiliser plant in Assam's Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh (Assam), Dec 7 (PTI) A fire broke out at the urea plant of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corp Ltd (BVFCL) in Dibrugarh district of Assam on Sunday evening, officials said.

The fire started at the compressor house of the urea plant in Namrup and was doused within an hour, a senior official said.

BVFCL's senior manager Pankaj Kumar Gogoi told PTI that the unit caught fire due to a suspected gas leak.

"The fire was almost brought under control by the two fire tenders that BVFCL has. Fire tenders from OIL, APL and Naharkatia also rushed, and helped to douse it," he said.

The exact loss due to the fire can be assessed after the survey of the technical team, he said.

Gogoi said there was no report of any injury to any employee of the plant.

PSU BVFCL is the only urea-making facility in the entire eastern India. The facility started production in January 1969 as a part of the Hindustan Fertilizer Corp Ltd (HFCL).

BVFCL was formed in April 2002 after hiving off the Namrup unit of HFCL. It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers with 100 per cent shareholding by the Government of India.

It is the first factory of its kind in India to use associated natural gas as a basic raw material for producing nitrogenous fertiliser.

In July, Assam Valley Fertilizer and Chemical Company Ltd (AVFCCL), a new brownfield Ammonia-Urea company, was incorporated in Namrup. A new plant within the existing premises of BVFCL was approved by the Union Cabinet in March this year. PTI TR TR SOM