No urea shortage in Telangana, says agriculture minister

Hyderabad: Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao on Tuesday said that the geo-political situations had led to shortage in the supply of urea during the Kharif season and added that presently there was no shortage of urea in the state. The Minister was replying to a question on supply of urea in the state asked by Congress member K Madan Mohan Rao during the Question Hour in the Assembly on Tuesday.

The Minister said that there was no scarcity for urea and other fertilizers in the state during the current agriculture season. He said that various steps were being taken to curb the black marketing and instructions were issued for creation of additional sale points and utilization of Rythu Vedikas wherever required to ensure the timely delivery of fertilizers to the farmers.

Nageswara Rao said that there is no crisis every year. The issue noticed in last Kharif season was mainly due to delayed supply of Imported Urea by Government of India and shut down of Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) during the peak season.

Steps were taken to curb the black marketing -district level task force teams were formed to check the possible diversion of urea. The top-20 buyers and retailers with highest sales were enabled in the Collectors log-in for cross verification.

Strengthening of inter-state check posts to prevent cross border movement of urea and monitoring of sales of urea through e-PoS only. As a result of enforcement activities taken up by the fertilizer inspectors, 36 licenses were suspended, 2 licenses were cancelled, 22 cases were booked under section 6A of EC Act 1955, 9 FIRs were registered and 14 culprits were arrested.