BHOPAL: Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers Sadanand Gowda has allayed the fears that there is any dearth of urea in MP.
MP’s agriculture minister Sachin Yadav met Gowda in New Delhi on Thursday in connection with demand for more urea.
Gowda issued a statement saying that shortage of fertiliser in MP does not match with actual statistics of availability of urea.
He said he had ensured that enough fertiliser is made available in the state.
Gowda said he had a conversation with Chief Minister Kamal Nath about it, and 15 racks of urea would reach MP within three/four days.
The current shortage of fertiliser may have occurred because of distribution system, he said.
Earlier, 50 per cent of fertiliser was distributed by the cooperative societies and 50% by private dealers, he said.
MP government has decided to supply 80 per cent of fertiliser through the cooperative societies and 20 per cent of it through the private dealers.
Consequently, there is a huge crowd outside the Markfed distribution centres, which is treated as shortage of urea, he said.
Gowda said his department is, in fact, responsible for ensuring the availability of fertilizer, but onus for its distribution lies with the state agriculture department.
He further said in December, 7.8-lakh-MT fertiliser was given to MP against its monthly demand for 4.25-lakh-MT.
In a video-conferencing, even the representatives of the state government admitted that there is enough stock of fertiliser, Gowda said.
Yadav told Gowda that demand for fertiliser increased because of excess rainfall and sought a hike in allotment of fertiliser.