The Hindu : New Delhi News : State asks Union Government to supply more fertilizers

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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New Delhi

State asks Union Government to supply more fertilizers

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A delegation of Karnataka Ministers, MPs and prominent personalities, led by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take immediate steps to supply sufficient quantity of fertilizers to the State to protect the farmers and also avoid law and order problems.

Mr. Yeddyurappa told presspersons that the Prime Minister had promised to consider the issue and take an early decision. The delegates pointed out that though the Centre had promised to supply 1.4 lakh tonnes of DAP and 1.14 lakh tonnes of complex fertilizers last month, the actual supply was only 1,05,470 tonnes of DAP and 61,048 tonnes of complex. Besides the Centre had also reduced the fertilizers quota for Karnataka by half for July.

As against July’s demand of 95,000 tonnes of DAP, the allocation made is only 45,000 tonnes and that of complex fertilizers is 1,00,400 tonnes against the demand of 1.64 lakh tonnes.

Mr. Yeddyurappa urged Mr. Singh to inaugurate the new Bengaluru International Airport in July. He urged the latter to reimburse Rs. 1,880-crore waiver given by the Karnataka government to the farmers for the crop loans taken from the agricultural cooperative societies. The scheme was introduced much before the Centre announced the loan waiver scheme and hence it sought reimbursement.

The delegates urged the Prime Minister to introduce a suitable amendment to Article 371 of the Constitution on the lines of Article 371-D (relating to Andhra Pradesh) to provide regional reservation; declare Kannada as a classical language; release a special package of Rs. 8,500 crore to Karnataka for tackling the infrastructure needs of Bangalore during the 11th Five-Year Plan; and ask the oil companies to reduce the issue price of petrol and diesel in Karnataka, which is the highest in the Southern States.

Hogenakkal

Yeddyurappa was non-committal on whether he would allow Tamil Nadu to go ahead with the Rs. 1,334-crore Hogenakkal water project to provide drinking water to Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts in Tamil Nadi.

He simply quipped: “I have come here for a different purpose and I have to discuss the issue further.”

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