'Route balance urea to Punjab away from Rajasthan traders, ports'

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers MK Alagiri to immediately direct the Department of Fertilisers, government of India, to allocate the balance quantity of urea to Punjab from manufacturers or ports away from Rajasthan in wake of disrupted rail movement there due to the ongoing Gujjar agitation.

Badal also impressed upon Alagiri to plan the supply of urea in such a manner to ensure uninterrupted supply of 3 lac Mt of Urea during January to the state in the interest of the national food security.

It is worth noting that a major part of the imported urea to the state was being supplied from Mundra and Kandla ports. In a letter to Alagiri, Badal pointed out that wheat was a major rabi crop in Punjab and was sown over an area of approximately 3.5 million hectares.

The total requirement of urea for sowing of Rabi crop was approximately 12.50 lac Mt. Badal also mentioned since urea was an essential input for ensuring optimum production of wheat and its second dose was being applied now along with the first irrigation to the crop.

Badal further stated since the application of second dose of urea was limited to a small period i.e from mid-December to the third week of January, it was therefore necessary to ensure the availability of urea in different parts of the state during this period to avoid any shortage and panic buying by the farmers.

He added state agencies, i.e. Markfed and Punjab Agro were in touch with major suppliers/manufacturers, however, the supplies were not being received as per supply plans due to the agitation affecting the rail movement in Rajasthan.