Govt cancels 5K fertiliser firm licences for malpractices in Apr-Nov: Nadda

The government has cancelled 5,371 licences of fertiliser firms for black marketing, hoarding as well as for distributing substandard material, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Jagat Prakash Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

In response to a question asked by BJP member Kiran Choudhary, Nadda said while states are empowered to take action on malpractices, the Centre takes action under the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and the Fertiliser Control Order to check malpractices such as diversion, hoarding and overpricing.

He said action on substandard material is taken under the Fertiliser Control Order.

"We would like to tell you, as you asked, from April 1 to November 28, there were 5,058 show-cause notices in black marketing, FIRs were lodged in 442 cases and licences cancelled were 3,732," Nadda said.

Similarly, in hoarding, there were 687 show-cause notices, 202 licence cancellations and 446 FIRs. In the case of distributing substandard material, show-cause notices were sent to 3,811 firms, as many as 1,437 licences were cancelled and 65 FIRs filed.

The minister also informed that in case of diversion, there were 3,058 show-cause notices, 464 licence cancellations and 96 FIRs.

"If I talk about show-cause notices in the past 7 months, it is 12,814, and 5,835 licences were cancelled and 649 FIRs lodged. Out of this, 442 FIRs have been lodged on black marketing," Nadda said.

The minister said that the Centre has supplied fertilisers to every state and the supplies are monitored in real time through Integrated Fertiliser Monitoring System.

"Although we also know that the fertilizer is being diverted, it is also a known fact that the dealers are hoarding which has to be taken care of by the state government. But as far as the material is concerned, the fertilizer is concerned, they have reached on time everywhere," Nadda said.

He said a farmer may have capacity to use 10 bags but he takes away 50 bags which needs to be taken care of and the state government needs to provide support to the Centre in handling it.

In second supplementary, BJP member Choudhary said the government should take note that farmers are forced to buy additional products beyond fertilisers which create a financial crisis for them and called for firming up a standard protocol around it to penalise such practices by distribution firms.

Nadda said that the ministry will discuss the issue with dealers and companies to ensure that farmers do not face any issue from such practices or in any other form.