PATNA: Amid a scarcity of fertilizer in the state, the Bihar government has accused the Centre of not allotting it its full quota, a charge that has been denied by Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. Bihar Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvjeet accused the Centre of discriminating against the state with an intention to dent the image of the Nitish Kumar government among the farmers. On the other hand, Mandaviya on Friday tweeted that there is no fertilizer crisis in the country.
Sarvjeet also held a meeting with the department officers to review the shortage of fertilizer, during which he took details of allotment and the actual delivery of fertilizer from the Centre till November 18.“We are facing a crisis of urea as Bihar has received only 37% of the quota from the Centre,” he said. “Bihar requires 2.55 lakh metric tonnes of urea till December 15 but there is no guarantee that the Centre would provide the remaining 63% of urea in the next 15-20 days,” he added. Bihar has received only 70% of the allotted 1,22,300 metric tonnes of DAP from the Centre while it should have been allotted at least 90% of the quota, Sarvjeet said.
Contending that Mandaviya’s claim on the availability of fertilizer was wrong, Sarvjeet said that he had online discussions with 1,800 farmers. He stressed that delay in the allotment of fertilizer would encourage black marketing as even authorised dealers would start selling fertilizer at the market price. He alleged that Bihar faced scarcity of fertilizer even during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll as the neighbouring state was given it in surplus by the Centre.
Meanwhile, farmers are venting their ire over the issue by indulging in vandalism across the state. During his visit to Bihar in September, Union Minister of State for Fertilizers Bhagwanth Khuba had accused the Nitish government of creating an artificial crisis despite regular supply from the Centre. BJP OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand echoed similar views on the issue, saying that there was sufficient stock to meet the requirement for the rabi season 2022-23.
“The Union government is allocating fertilizer as per the requirement of the sates. Once the consignment is allocated, it’s the responsibility of the state government to ensure proper availability of minerals to the farmers,” he added.