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Mayawati presses panic button on fertilizer scarcity

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, has shot off another letter to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to facilitate an additional allotment of one lakh metric tonne of D.A.P. fertilizer and 60,000 metric tonne of N.P.K. fertilizer in December in order to streamline the availability of the agri-input to the farmers.

A copy of the Chief Minister’s letter has been sent to the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, along with the request of allotting additional railway wagons for lifting the fertilizers from Mundra and Kandla ports.

Uttar Pradesh has been facing acute shortage of fertilizers with the farmers coming out on the streets in protest in several districts.

Much of the crisis was attributed to black-marketing and pilferage by middlemen and traders involved in the trade.

Cabinet Secretary, Shashank Shekhar Singh, told newspersons here that stern directives have been issued by the Chief Minister to the District Magistrates to ensure the availability of fertilizers to the farmers in accordance to the size of their holdings. Mr. Singh said Ms. Mayawati had also instructed the DMs to conduct regular raids for checking hoarding and black-market of the commodity. He said raids were conducted early this week following which the supply position of the fertilizers had improved. He added that 70 teams of senior officials were being deputed to the districts to ensure the implementation of the Chief Minister’s directives.

The Cabinet Secretary said following complaints regarding paddy purchase, steps have been taken to open more purchase centres in different parts of the State, including Lucknow and Sitapur.

He said till December 102.66 lakh metric tonne paddy had been procured which was more than the 1.83 lmt procured during this period last year.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary dismissed reports of parents in Banda district being forced to sell their children due to acute poverty which appeared in a section of the Press.

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