BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): The state government on Monday admitted that there is severe shortage of fertilisers in Madhya Pradesh. The confession came in response to Congress MLA Jitu Patwariís question related to demand and supply in state Assembly. The question and reply were given in writing.
Patwari sought details from agriculture minister Kamal Patel in this regard. He sought to know the target for the rabi season 2021-22 for urea, DAP, NPK and potash and the quantities supplied.
In reply, Patel said that target for urea was 20 lakh metric ton and the supply was 11.07 metric ton. Similarly, the demand of DAP was 8.50 lakh ton while the supply was 5.40 lakh ton.
The state government had set the target to supply 2.35 lakh metric ton of NPK but received 3.44 lakh ton. The target for potash was 0.80 lakh ton while the supply was only 0.56 lakh ton. Except NPK, all essential fertilisers remained short for supply.
Congress MLA Patwari had sought information on the same points separately for Indore division. In Indore division, Burhanpur district was the worst sufferer. Burhanpur received 4,918 ton of urea against demand of 16,000 ton, which was merely 30%. Similarly, supply of DAP, MOP and NPK remained short by 88%, 51% and 45% respectively.
Jitu Patwari told Free Press that state government discriminated against Indore division. ìOther parts of the state were supplied about 55% of urea against the demand whereas Indore received only 26.2% against the set target. Indore got 62,373 tons against demand of 2.38 lakh metric ton,î said Patwari.
He said that fertilisers were supplied in areas that faced by-elections while the tribal areas of Indore division were ignored.
