The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government urged to ensure supplies of fertilizers, diesel

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Saturday, Jul 26, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government urged to ensure supplies of fertilizers, diesel

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister to meet Opposition leaders on Monday on drought situation

‘Sort out problems in distribution of ration cards’
‘Remove entry tax, reduce sales tax on diesel’

Bangalore: Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) members on Friday demanded that the Government ensure adequate supplies of fertilizers, diesel and power so that farmers and industries did not suffer. They also wanted the distribution of ration cards to families living below the poverty line (BPL) sorted out, especially in rural areas.

‘Funds not a problem’

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, replying to Leader of the Opposition M. Mallikarjun Kharge and others in the Legislative Assembly during the debate on the fertilizer shortage in the State, said the Government would give a demand draft for Rs. 250 crore to Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) if it was ready to supply fertilizers.

Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, K.B. Krishnamurthy, T.B. Jayachandra and Dhruvanarayana (all Congress) spoke.

Referring to H.C. Balakrishna’s statement that IFFCO had written to the Agriculture Secretary saying it would supply fertilizers if sufficient funds were made available to it, Mr. Yeddyurappa said officials of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers had made it clear to him in New Delhi that only the Union Government could release fertilizers to the States and not IFFCO.

Meeting

Mr. Yeddyurappa said he would call a meeting of senior officials and Opposition leaders where the latter could seek clarifications on the matter.

Agriculture Minister S.A. Ravindranath said the State had received 2.47 lakh tonnes of fertilizers in July.

When the members demanded the immediate supply of fertilizers to farmers, Mr. Yeddyurappa said he was ready to launch an agitation in New Delhi along with all the MLAs demanding that the Centre supply fertilizers to the State.

He appealed to farmers not to block roads inconveniencing commuters.Speaker Jagadish Shettar joined N.Y. Gopalakrishna, Mr. Balakrishna, Mr. Jayachandra, C.T. Ravi, H.K. Kumaraswamy, Mr. Krishnamurthy and Nadagouda Venkatarao to demand rectification of the BPL ration card distribution system.

He asked Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister H. Halappa to set up a task force to find a solution to the problem.

Seeks cooperation

Mr. Yeddyurappa requested the Opposition to cooperate with the Government in completing the exercise and made it clear that there would be no resurvey of families identified for the scheme. While the Centre had identified 31 lakh BPL families, the State Government had distributed 72 lakh BPL ration cards.

Mr. Kharge wanted drought relief programmes implemented in Bijapur, Raichur, Bagalkot, Koppal, Gulbarga and Bellary districts, which received less than 50 per cent of average rainfall.

The Chief Minister said rain was expected in two days, and he would call a meeting of Opposition leaders on Monday after which a decision could be taken.

Mr. Kharge and Mr. Dhruvanarayana urged the Government to remove entry tax and reduce sales tax on diesel.

Request to Centre

Mr. Halappa said he had written to the Union Petroleum Ministry asking it to augment the supply of diesel, and the problem would be solved in three days.

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