Urea crunch leaves Telangana government worried

Hyderabad: The State government is in a fix over the continuous short supply of urea for the current Kharif season. According to officials of the State Agriculture Department, there is an overall supply backlog of 2.54 lakh metric tonnes from April to August end.

Adding to this, the State has to get an allocated supply of 2.10 lakh metric tonnes of urea from the Centre. This comes to about 4.64 lakh metric tonnes of urea that the State has to get by the September end.

However, as per the indications from the Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry, the State is likely to get the fresh urea supplies only by the mid of September.

State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Thursday stated that the State had placed a request for the total of 22.30 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers, comprising 10.5 lakh metric tonnes of urea and 11.8 lakh metric tonnes of other fertilizers.

"There is no problem in supply of other fertilizers. But with urea, the State has been facing short supply," he added.

It may be mentioned here that the demand for urea shot up after a 36 per cent more area has come under cultivation during the current Kharif season when compared to the corresponding season last year.

Sensing the demand for urea, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had taken up this issue with the Centre. Besides, State Agriculture Minister and State Agriculture Secretary B Janardhan Reddy had held discussion with the officials of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and requested the Centre to supply the allocated amount of urea for the season without imposing any cuts.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy too pitched in to address the situation. He met Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Sadananda Gowda and sought his intervention.

Reddy informed that the Union Minister had assured to ensure smooth supply of urea besides monitoring the supply situation. However, the officials concerned informed that the shipments of urea allocated to Telangana would likely reach Visakhapatnam Port by mid of September.