Dismissing opposition charges about shortage of fertilisers, the Centre today put the ball in the court of states saying the availability was "satisfactory" and if there was any problem, it was at their end. "The total scenario is satisfactory and there will be no problem as regards availability in the future," Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Shrikant Jena told the Lok Sabha while responding to a 'calling attention' motion.
The 'calling attention' saw acrimonious scenes with opposition members, especially those of the RJD, SP and BJP protesting over the shortage of fertilisers at a crucial time when the Rabi sowing season was on. The Minister, however, put the onus squarely on the states saying that as per the Fertiliser Control Order, state governments were supposed to monitor their availability for the farmer and to take action if there was black marketing or smuggling.
"If there is any problem, you should write to the state government .... I am not politicising the issue," Jena said, noting that the availability of fertilisers was better in the current year, which witnessed bad monsoon compared to 2008-09, which saw good rains.
Speaker Meira Kumar had to repeatedly restore order in the House with opposition members, including RJD's Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, vociferously expressing their anger when the Minister was responding to the motion. Jena said some "smart states" like Punjab and Maharashtra have acted through cooperative societies to make fertiliser available to farmers and "something has to be done" in this regard in some other states like Uttar Pradesh.
There were "no significant complaints" on the supply front during the Kharif season, he said. The Minister, however, acknowledged that at least four states had reported shortage of various fertilisers even though the availability position in the current year was "comfortable".
"During November 2009, no state except Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has indicated any shortage of urea. ....As regards DAP (di-ammonium phosphate), the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have reported shortages," he said.
The 'calling attention' motion was moved by CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia, two days after members of several parties, including SP, BJP, BJD, JD(U), RJD and BSP, demanded a discussion on the matter alleging there was "severe shortage" of fertilisers in various states.
Observing that fertiliser prices had gone up significantly in the recent past, the opposition members had also claimed that fertilisers were being sold in black market and smuggled to Nepal.
