Govt to exploit unviable coal mines to make urea: Gadkari

Government will soon exploit economically unviable coal mines for gasification to produce cheaper urea to cut down on huge Rs.55,000-crore annual subsidy on the fertiliser, Union Minister Gadkari said.

 c´We cannot extract coal from 40 per cent coal mines in the country, which are not economically viable. The idea is to use these for coal gasification by which we can get urea at a cost of only Rs.8,000 to Rs.10,000 per tonne,´ the road transport and highways minister said.

Four of the 30 chemical and fertiliser factories in India produce urea from naphtha, the cost of which comes to around `40,000 per tonne, he said.