Close on the heels of farmers complaining to the district administration about reported shortage of urea and high prices for fertilizers, Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil has directed the officials to take strict action against offenders.
Various organisations had raised the issue of farmers being forced to pay higher prices by fertilizer dealers.
Referring to the complaints submitted to the district administration, the Deputy Commissioner has said that at a time when the district had received good rainfall and the sowing target had been met, such development would not be tolerated.
Mr. Patil has directed the officials of the Department of Agriculture to procure sufficient quantity of fertilizers, particularly urea, and supply them to farmers based on demand.
According to a release, during a recent meeting, Mr. Patil directed the Joint Director of Agriculture to form special teams to visit and check fertilizer availability and take steps to ensure that shopkeepers displayed stock details along with the price fixed by the government.
As per official data, there is a demand for 17,000 tonnes of urea till July-end and the district has received 17,917 tonnes so far. Considering the good rainfall, and in anticipation of demand going up, the department has written to the State government seeking an additional supply of 4,000 tonnes of urea.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to make people adhere to COVID-19 advisory, the district administration on Tuesday decided to take the help of Fire and Emergency Services and use water canons against those violating guidelines.
