After few stray incidences of farmers turning violent over shortage of urea, state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has written a letter to Union fertiliser minister Srikant Jena on Friday and has demanded immediate release of the fertiliser.
In his letter (a copy of which is available with Business Standard) the chief minister has pointed out, “with the sown crops now reaching a stage where the requirement has shifted to urea during the last fortnight, our challenge is now for its timely and adequate supply. With this in mind, we have requested for 3,87,022 metric tonnes (MT) of Urea allocation for November. Against this, the state had been allocated 37,080 MT. However the actual supply was only around 237,000 MT, resulting in a huge shortfall of 133,000 MT. This has resulted in severe Urea shortage in the state.”
Farmers in few districts namely Vidisha, Raisen, Shivpuri, Hoshangabad, Rajgarh and Ashoknagar turned violent and have reportedly staged demonstration and chakka jam. “Police fired in air to control a mob of farmers, pelted stones at few shops and damaged vehicles in Jirapur town of Rajgarh district,” said a government source, “ Similar reports have also come from Raisen and Vidisha.”
The chief minister has demanded the entire quota and availability of minimum ten railway rakes every day to transport the fertiliser. During the first week of December, Railways have made only eleven rakes available to the state. The state, according to the chief minister, has received 181,590 MT of urea during December which is imported. “The centre has yet not released as allocated to the state company-wise.
“We have also requested the ministry to issue instructions to National Fertilisers Limited for supplying in the next seven days the full 52,000 MTs of Urea allocated from its plant within state (near Guna). If this happens it will help us mitigate the situation in the short term,” Chouhan mentioned in his letter.
State immediately needs 6.25 lakh metric tonnes of Urea during current Rabi season, against the demand of 11.75 lakh metric tonnes. It also needs five lakh metric tonnes of DAP, 46,000 tonnes of Potash, 2.45 lakh tonnes of complex fertilisers, 4.25 lakh tonnes of Super phosphate. “Of the total 104 lakh hectare acreage for Rabi, wheat is our main crop which is targeted to be sown on area of 49.01 lakh hectare, if urea is not supplied at this time, the crop will be badly damaged,” said a government official.
MP is ranked third in wheat production at projected 111.74 lakh metric tonnes this year.
