The State government has asked fertilizer companies to ensure transportation of soil nutrients for February to their allotted district by the end of the first fortnight itself.
At a meeting with representatives of fertilizer companies and officials of the Telangana State Cooperative Marketing Federation (TS-Markfed) and Agriculture Department here on Friday, Principal Secretary C. Parthasarathi and Commissioner Rahul Bojja said that against the allotment of 7.5 lakh tonnes of urea for the ongoing rabi season, the companies had supplied 5.85 lakh tonnes till January-end.
Of the urea supplied by companies, Markfed had a stock of 1.5 lakh tonnes and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS) and dealers had 0.5 lakh tonnes of stock. Against the initial allotment of 1 lakh tonnes of urea to Telangana for February, the Centre had agreed to allot 2.09 lakh tonnes for the month, keeping in view the increased extent of rabi cultivation this year. Accordingly, the 2.09 lakh tonnes of fertilizer was allotted to various companies, including their own manufacturing and imports (at plant and port). Mr. Parthasarathi told the companies’ representatives to ensure that the allotted stock reached the districts by the end of first fortnight of February so that there was no shortage of urea.
On the problem of railway wagons pointed out by the companies’ representatives, the officials assured them of resolving the issue by talking to railways and to the Centre, if necessary. Mr. Parathasarathi asked the Markfed and agriculture officials to monitor the movement of fertilizers closely and take stock reports every day from the dealers. Any irregularities in urea supply to farmers, sale of the soil nutrient without using point-of-sale gadgets or at prices in excess of maximum retail price, would be deal with sternly, he said.
