Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC) is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n manufacturer of fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

. GSFC was founded in 1967.

Oil & gas discoveries in Bombay High

Bombay High

Bombay High is an offshore oilfield off the coast of Mumbai , India. The oil operations are run by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ....

 and South Basin triggered the birth of eight new generation fertilizer plants to fulfill the growing food needs of India.

GSFC manufactures fertilizers, plastics, nylons, fibers, industrial gases and varied chemicals including urea

Urea

Urea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....

, ammonia

Ammonia

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...

, ammonium sulfate

Ammonium sulfate

Ammonium sulfate , 2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen as ammonium cations, and 24% sulfur as sulfate anions...

, sulfuric acid

Sulfuric acid

Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...

, phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid, also known as orthophosphoric acid or phosphoric acid, is a mineral acid having the chemical formula H3PO4. Orthophosphoric acid molecules can combine with themselves to form a variety of compounds which are also referred to as phosphoric acids, but in a more general way...

 & diammonium phosphate

Diammonium phosphate

Diammonium phosphate is one of a series of water-soluble ammonium phosphate salts which can be produced when ammonia reacts with phosphoric acid...

. Vadodara

Vadodara

Vadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...

 in the State of Gujarat, on the Vadodara-Ahmedabad National Highway.

In 1998, heavy rains at the GSFC complex in Bajwa, a small town in Gujarat, caused radioactive waste

Radioactive waste

Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...

 to flow into the town. affecting several residential areas. A report by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute is a research institute created and funded by Government of India. It was established in Nagpur in 1958 with focus on water supply, sewage disposal, communicable diseases and to some extent on industrial pollution and occupational diseases...

indicated the toxic slush may have contained cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, magnesium, manganese, calcium, sodium, potassium, silica, sulfate, total phosphate, fluoride, and radioactive substances.