HYDERABAD: In the wake of acute shortage of urea, the State government on Friday swung into action and made arrangements for the supply of the fertiliser to farmers on a war-footing in the next three to four days.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the officials to supply the required urea to the farmers. In a day of developments, Rao spoke to railway officials and also to AP Transport Minister Perni Nani to bring urea stocks from AP ports to Telangana at the earliest.
Rao assured farmers that around one lakh tonnes of urea would be made available to them in the next three to four days. Urea stocks lifted from various ports in AP should not be kept at stock points at district headquarters and they should be directly sent to the villages for distribution.
The Chief Minister, who held a high-level meeting here on Friday to take stock of the situation, initiated measures to ensure an adequate supply of urea to the districts in the next three-four days. Officials informed Rao that 1.15 lakh tonne of urea from IDL, IFFCO, KRIBHCO and NFL had reached Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam, New Mangalore ports. These stocks have to be transported by railways to the districts.
He contacted South Central Railway chief operations manager Sivaprasad and chief fleet traffic manager Nagaiah who in turn agreed to arrange for about 25 rakes on Friday itself to transport urea stocks from various ports to the State.
About 60,000 tonnes of Urea is expected to reach the State in the next three-four days. Rao directed the officials to transport the urea directly from the ports to railway stations in towns and cities including Jagitial, Mancherial, Adilabad, Peddapalli, Warangal, Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Jadcherla, and others.
Each rake can transport about 2,600 tonnes of urea. Agriculture officials would be deputed to railway stations to ensure quick delivery of urea stocks to farmers in the villages.
The Chief Minister also spoke to AP Minister Perni Nani over the phone and sought his cooperation in deploying as many lorries as possible to transport urea from Gangavaram port in Andhra Pradesh. The AP Minister responded positively and directed the Andhra Pradesh officials to make necessary arrangements in this regard.
Rao directed Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy to assess the demand for urea in each mandal and supply the required stocks.The railways are making arrangements to send 25 rakes to the ports. About 60,000 tonnes of urea will reach districts in next two to three days and also through 4,000 trucks.