The Hindu : New Delhi News : U.P. Govt. puts entire onus on the Centre

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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U.P. Govt. puts entire onus on the Centre

Special Correspondent

Severe shortage of fertilizers in the State

Move a rejoinder to Sonia’s statement in Rae Bareli
Sonia had said that Centre had given full quota to U.P.

LUCKNOW: In a rejoinder to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Uttar Pradesh Government on Thursday placed the entire onus on the Union Government for the severe shortage of fertilizers in the State, with the shortfall in December being estimated at around 2 lakh tonnes.

During her two-day visit to Rae Bareli recently Ms. Gandhi had blamed the Mayawati Government for the fertilizer crisis in U.P. Addressing a function in her constituency on Tuesday, the UPA chairperson had reportedly stated that the Centre had given the full quota of DAP fertiliser to U.P. and the problem reportedly was at the distribution end.

Taking up the issue on behalf of the State Government, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told a hurriedly convened press conference here that in her meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last May and July, Chief Minister Mayawati had requested the Centre to ensure availability of DAP in accordance with the needs of U.P. Mr. Singh said the Central Government was urged to release 30 lakh metric tonne of urea, 10.05 lmt of DAP, 6.5 lmt of NPK and 1.50 lmt of MOP till December 2007 for the 2007-08 rabi season.

Till December, the State should have received 8.60 lmt of DAP, 4.06 lmt of NPK and 1.20 lmt of MOP, but till now the Centre had made available only 7.35 lmt of DAP to the State, Mr. Singh pointed out.The Cabinet Secretary said the DAP quota allotted to the State had been distributed to the farmers through cooperative and non-cooperative agencies. He added that raids had been conducted at the behest of the Chief Minister to ensure that there was no black marketing and hoarding of the quota allotted by the Centre.

He said through her letters sent on November 16 and December 10 this year Ms. Mayawati had apprised the Prime Minister of the fertilizer shortage in U.P. and urged him to allot 1 lmt of DAP in December. Another letter was written to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad asking him to ensure availability of rakes for lifting UP’s share of fertilizers dumped at the Kandla and Vizag ports.

He regretted that the Chief Minister’s efforts had cut no ice with the Centre.

State Agriculture Minister Chaudhary Laxmi Narain also wrote to the Union Minister for Fertilizers, Ram Vilas Paswan, on September 10 to ensure timely availability of DAP, but to no avail. Mr. Narain sent a second letter to Mr. Paswan on October 15, the Cabinet Secretary said.

Mr. Singh said it was the responsibility of the Central Government to ensure availability of fertilizers to the State. In fact, an official press release accused the Congress Party of launching propaganda in a bid to defame the BSP Government in Uttar Pradesh.

Non-availability of Central funds for the Centrally-sponsored Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme formed the next component of the Mayawati Government’s attack on the Centre. The Cabinet Secretary said around 28,000 villages were covered by the scheme and till now about 11,000 villages had been electrified. However, since April 2007 not a single rupee had been paid by the Centre to the distribution companies.

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