NEW DELHI: The Central Government will direct state governments not to get involved as middlemen in purchase of land for the proposed petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment regions (PCPIR).

Disclosing this here on Saturday, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said this was in view of the controversy over acquisition of farm land for special economic zones.

He told reporters that the purchase of land for these regions will be between the industry and the farmer. He said the state governments will only have a role in promoting the regions in their respective states. Besides, he clarified that of the total area of 250 square kilometres, at least 100 square kilometres would be reserved for the chemicals sector.

Mr. Paswan said the government is considering setting up three to four such regions, for which, it has identified Visakhapatnam, Haldia and Hazira as suitable locations in view of their proximity to port facilities. He said the petro regions are to be developed on the lines of those in Rotterdam and Shanghai and will help the industry to be globally competitive.

On fertilizer subsidies which have reached Rs. 30,000 crore annually, he said a system of on-line monitoring will be launched this month. This will focus on distribution of fertilizers by companies to states, to ensure that full details of dispatches are available. At the same time, he ruled out any changes in the existing subsidy policy. Stressing the need to raise urea output, he said production was proposed to be raised from the existing level of 10 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes over the next five years.

Referring to the proposed new pricing scheme (NPS) for urea, he said the report of NPS-III was awaiting cabinet clearance. The proposals, he said, envisage that the Centre would bear the cost of transporting and distributing urea.

Mr. Paswan also said Rs. 7,000 crore would be spent on revival of the sick chemical companies including an estimated Rs. 5,760 crore for revival of the Assam Gas cracker unit and Rs 440 crore for the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. In addition, he said Rs. 508 crore is being invested in Hindustan Antibiotics, while Rs 250 crore has been allocated for HOCL and Rs. 224 crore for Hindustan Insecticide.

Regarding the new pharmaceuticals policy, he said industry is creating obstacles in the way of obtaining clearance by the Cabinet.

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