The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fertilizer shortage rocks Medak Zilla Parishad meet

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Saturday, Jun 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fertilizer shortage rocks Medak Zilla Parishad meet

Staff Reporter

District receives 3,000 tonnes against its quota of 13,000

— Photo: MOHD. ARIF

Pacifying protesters: TRS activists arguing with Joint Collector in Medak on Friday.

Sangareddy: Severe shortage of complex fertilizers in the district rocked the Zilla Parishad general body meeting here on Friday.

The district, which was allocated a quota of almost 13,000 tonnes for the month of June, has so far received only 3,000 tonnes resulting in no ‘stock boards’ at fertilizer sale centres and daylong wait for farmers.

Echoing the sentiment of the farmers, Telugu Desam (TDP) floor leader Bakki Venkataiah dared the Medak Joint Director of Agriculture to visit Dubbaka to see for himself the actual stock available with the local fertilizer dealer.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) legislators -- T. Harish Rao and S. Ramalinga Reddy -- questioned the government’s logic behind allocating 6,000 tonnes to the neighbouring Rangareddy district which had only 14 mandals that grew paddy and only 3,000 tonnes to Medak where all the 46 mandals cultivated paddy. Mr. Ramalinga Reddy objected to the lopsided distribution of paddy between Dommata and Gajwel segments.

Intervening in the hot discussion, Zilla Parishad Chairman M. Balaiah introduced a resolution demanding a rake point at the Akkanapet railway station in Ramayampet for the smooth distribution of fertilizers. However, Joint Collector Ramshankar Nayak assured the members that more fertilizer would be arriving within two to three days.

TRS gheraoes official

Meanwhile, the TRS held a dharna in front of the ZP office demanding sufficient quantity of fertilizers for the district.

They laid a siege to the ZP office blocking the two entry points of the office and also the traffic on the Sangareddy-Nanded road. Few TRS workers climbed the walls and entered the conference hall where the general body meeting was going on. They forced the Joint Collector to leave the hall and demanded timely inputs for the farmers. TRS district president Raghunandan Rao submitted a memorandum to the Joint Collector.

Apply new rate

The ZP general body opined that farmers, who were not paid for the paddy they had sold to the government at the old rate within the stipulated time period, must be considered for the new rate of Rs. 850 per quintal.

Similarly, another resolution was passed demanding the State government not to run APREGP programme during the kharif season as the employment guarantee scheme was creating shortage of labour. Member of the Legislative Council Bhoopal Reddy, MLAs -- Sunitha Laxma Reddy, Suresh Kumar Shetkar and Mainampalli Hanmanth Rao -- and ZP Chief Executive Officer Y. Upender Reddy were present.

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