Throwing up his hands in despair, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday told the legislative assembly that the "situation will worsen as the Centre has failed to respond in time to the state's fertiliser requirements".
The state's requirement of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and complex fertiliser (CF) this July is 95,000 tonnes and 164,000 tonnes respectively.
But the Centre has supplied only 45,000 tonnes of DAP and 100,000 tonnes of CF so far, Yeddyurappa pointed out. On the growing farmers' unrest, Yeddyurappa said: "The Centre should take responsibility if something untoward happens."
Yeddyurappa attributed the state's fertiliser crisis to Centre's complacency in responding to the needs of the farming community. The opening stocks of DAP, CF and muriate of potash (MoP) in April 2007 were 31,000 tonnes, 78,131 tonnes and 37,270 tonnes respectively.
But during the corresponding period this year, the opening stocks of DAP, CF and MoP were 3,782 tonnes, 3,196 tonnes and 12,107 tonnes respectively. The stocks that were available this April was just 8 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, Yeddyurappa said.
Though the state government had written several letters to the Union fertiliser ministry and the Prime Minister's office about the shortage of fertiliser, there was no positive response, Yeddyurappa alleged.
However, when the opposition parties heckled him on the steps being taken to end farmers' suicides, Yeddyurappa retorted: "In the last five years, a total of 839 farmers have committed suicide in Karnataka despite initiation of several pro-farmer programmes. Since March, 85 farmers have ended their lives for various reasons. We cannot offer any readymade solutions to stop suicides."
But when the opposition parties continued to accuse him of failing to save the lives of farmers by ensuring the timely supply of fertiliser, Yeddyurappa lost his temper and shouted at the former: "I will give a draft for Rs 500 crore, go and get fertiliser from wherever you want."
Reacting to his statement, former chief minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said: "If you expect us to do your job, you don't deserve to be in power."
