Team Herald
VASCO: Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited (ZACL) is facing a crisis as the production and the operations have shut down since the last one month.
Sources from ZACL informed that the company is facing these problems due to the delayed subsidy, tightened bank loans, drought in 2018 and rising US dollar value.
They further confirmed that the operations will start in early November.
When Herald tried contacting the Chief Officer of Operations Nitin Kantak, he said he had briefed one section of media and that he was not willing to comment further.
Later, when another highly placed source at ZACL was contacted, he revealed, on the condition of anonymity, that the company is running financially low. The urea plant is shut down since July and the complex, which has NPK A and NPK B plants have been non-operational from the last one month.
When asked to elaborate, the source informed that there are multiple reasons, one of which is delay in receiving subsidy from the government due to the earlier Lok Sabha elections.
This delay led to host of other technical problems including tightened bank loans and other payments.
The source added that there were other issues such as the drop in sales as their main customers such as states of Maharashtra and Karnataka were badly hit with the drought in 2018.
“The raw materials such as ammonia from Qatar and phosphoric acid which we buy from Morocco also took a hit from the rising dollar value to sky high,” added the source.
Speaking about how they plan to counter the situation, the source said that there is nothing to panic and that they are working on the issue.
“Talks with the banks are ongoing. We are hopeful that the fertiliser plants NPK A and NPK B, will start in early November,” the source added.
The source also rubbished the social media rumours that ZACL is likely to shut down and reiterated that the situation will soon be back to normal.
“The employers both regular and those on the contract basis are being given their salary. This is an internal company’s crisis and nothing much to worry,” the source added.
A group of workers while interacting with the media informed that they have been kept in the dark about the ongoing crisis and therefore have no idea about their job security etc.
When questioned about the labour union’s next step, if they are asked to go on long leave or resign, the workers said that they have not received any official circular or notification from the employer’s end and therefore are not in a position to speak about their future course of action. Moreover, they added that they have high expectations that the company will be back on track soon.
