NALGONDA/KHAMMAM : As has been the case for the last few days, farmers waited in gargantuan queues at the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) office in Thipparthi from the wee hours of Wednesday hoping to buy urea. But, as expected, as soon as the office was opened the waiting farmers were welcomed with a “No Stock” board.
Enraged by this, the farmers staged a protest in front of the office, demanding adequate supply of urea. They said they had been visiting the office for over a week, only to be turned away with a “No Stock” sign.
Farmer P Ellaiah said he had queued up from 3 am on Wednesday after hearing that a consignment had arrived the previous evening.
“Only 200 bags were delivered while nearly 500 farmers were waiting here,” he said.
Another farmer, who owns 10 acres of farm land, said he needed more than 10 bags for his crop and questioned whether the government wanted farmers to “quit farming” by failing to ensure fertiliser supply.
Officials said the erstwhile Nalgonda district requires 70,000 metric tonnes of urea, but it has received only 44,000 metric tonnes so far.
‘Ensure fair distribution’
Nalgonda Collector Ila Tripathi instructed agriculture officials to ensure that the 510 metric tonnes of urea received in the district are distributed fairly to needy farmers, without any scope for irregularities.
The stock has been allocated to primary agricultural cooperative societies, and officials from revenue, police, and agriculture departments were asked to coordinate to prevent misuse. The collector urged large farmers not to hoard supplies.
District Agriculture Officer Sravan said that against a requirement of 19,500 metric tonnes in Miryalaguda division, 14,000 have been supplied.
The collector directed assistant directors and agriculture officers to oversee proper distribution, ordered surprise inspections at check posts, and instructed inspections of fertiliser warehouses and shops.
Forced to buy other products
Meanwhile, Task Force sleuths on Wednesday conducted surprise inspections at fertiliser shops in Nelakondapalli, Chintakani, Raghunathapalem and Sattupalli mandals in Khammam district and found urea being sold along with bio-stimulant-labelled products.
Commissioner of Police Sunil Dutt said raids were carried out on five shops that were forcing farmers to buy additional fertilisers or pesticide cans as a condition for obtaining urea. He said agriculture authorities have been asked to cancel the trade licences of the accused dealers.
The CP said these shopkeepers were exploiting farmers’ needs by bundling urea with unnecessary products to make profits, thereby burdening farmers financially.
Telangana BJP president Ramchander: Congress govt mismanaged Urea distribution
Claiming that the Union government has supplied more urea to Telangana than it actually requires, state BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Wednesday alleged that the state government “created an artificial shortage with its mismanagement of fertiliser distribution”. Addressing a press conference at the state office here, Ramchander Rao accused the Revanth Reddy government of creating panic in the minds of farmers by spreading false information that Centre has not supplied sufficient urea to the state.
“The Congress government is distorting facts and spreading lies. Its claim that the Centre has not supplied sufficient urea to the state is the mother of lies. “The Centre has supplied 12.47 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of urea during the 2024-2025 Rabi season as against the state’s requirement of 9.87 LMT. The state government distributed just 10.43 LMT and it has 2.04 LMT opening stocks till March, 2025, which is not being shown in its representation,” he said.
