Govt assures adequate urea for Rabi season

Hyderabad: Inview of the increasing demand for urea during the farming season in January and February, the State government is taking special measures to ensure an adequate supply of fertilizers to farmers during that period.

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao stated that the government has already requested the Central government to provide 2 lakh metric tonnes of urea per month from October to December.

Currently, a buffer stock of 2.48 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers is available in Telangana and officials have already been instructed to increase these reserves further by the end of December.

He revealed that 86,000 metric tonnes of the urea allocated to the State for the month of December by the Central Fertilizers department has already arrived at various ports, including Kakinada, Krishnapatnam, Visakhapatnam, Thoothukudi, Gangavaram, Karaikal, and Jaigarh.

Since it is essential to transport these stocks to the Telangana quickly, Thummala has written separate letters to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, requesting them to expedite the urea transportation process.

The Minister stated that he had requested the Union Ministers to immediately allocate empty railway rakes required for urea transportation, expedite clearance and handling processes at the ports, give top priority to urea transportation over other goods, and improve coordination among port authorities, shipping lines, handling agencies, and railway officials to prevent delays in transportation.

Tummala Nageswara Rao further stated that to monitor this transportation process, the State agriculture department officials have also been sent to the ports and instructed to coordinate with the concerned authorities.