Date:07/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120757170400.htm

New Delhi

FACT: MPs meet Manmohan

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: MPs from Kerala, on Thursday, sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to secure early clearance of the Special Dispensation Package for pulling out Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (FACT) from the red.

Submit memorandum

A delegation of 22 MPs met the Prime Minister and urged him to ensure that the package was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at the earliest.

In its memorandum, the delegation said the Committee of Secretaries had recommended a Rs. 200-crore package for continuing operations of FACT.

The package is aimed at keeping FACT operational and financially viable till 2011 when the company is due to switch to liquefied natural gas.

FACT’s plight

The all-party delegation brought to the Prime Minister’s notice the crisis facing FACT at present owing to a steep increase in the costs of raw materials, especially sulphur.

The delegation included Varkala Radhakrishnan, Thennala Balakrishnan, K. Chandran Pillai, Sebastian Paul, C.S. Sujatha, S. Ajay Kumar, C.K. Chandrappan, K.S. Manoj, Suresh Kurup, A.P. Abdullakutty, P. Rajendran and P.C. Thomas.