Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Madaviya on Monday said that country has sufficient stock of fertilizers, especially urea and DAP, and the Centre is providing around Rs 2.25 lakh crore annual subsidy to farmers.
He said that India has sufficient stock of urea and DAP till December and the government will ensure easy availability of fertilizers to farmers for Rabi and Kharif seasons. He said the country is on the path to becoming self-dependent in urea production and the Barauni unit in Bihar and Sindri in Jharkhand will start producing 25 lakh metric tons of urea annually from October.
Sources said that fertilizer prices may come down in the international market after six months and that India has already stocked fertilizers for Kharif and Rabi seasons.
They said that the Department of Fertilizers makes available subsidized fertilizers to farmers in the country and a 45 kg bag of urea is sold at Rs 266 to farmers through PoS devices installed at retail shops while the bag costs about Rs 3000 to the government.
The sources toldthat besides agriculture, urea is used in many other sectors like resin, glue, plywood, crockery and industrial mining explosives.
"To prevent misuse, diversion or black marketing of subsidized urea meant for farmers, the Ministry has set up Flying Squad. This team of dedicated officers conducts surprise inspections of fertilizer and related units and also keeps an eye on any supply of sub-standard fertilizers. FFS is supervised by Flying Squad Cell in the headquarters," a source said.
"Department of Fertilizers Flying squad seized 35,000 bags of urea in different parts of the country recently including Harayana, Kerala, UP, Gujarat, MP, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Eight FIRs have been registered and six people arrested for diversion of urea to industries," the source added.
The ministry sources noted that stringent action is taken against those found involved in the diversion of urea.
"Department of Fertilizers conducted an operation against 38 mixture manufacturing units across eight states, the majority of which were located in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. All locations were raided simultaneously. Based on the findings, states have been instructed to cancel manufacturing licenses of 25 defrauding units and de-authorize (those) purchasing subsidized fertilizers from iFMS (Integrated Fertilizer Management System)," another source said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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