Centre seizes 35,000 bags of urea diverted from agricultural use

More than seven years after the Centre made it mandatory for all domestic urea producers to make 100 per cent neem-coated urea, the government has seized around 35,000 bags of urea diverted for non-agriculture purposes in the last few months.

The ‘Flying Squad’, constituted by the Ministry of Fertilisers, has filed eight first information reports against the offenders and six people have been sent to jail.

The fertilisers have been seized from Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.

“The bags have been seized despite being neem-coated, for which investigation is on as to how they escaped scrutiny,” said a senior government official.

The urea meant for agriculture was diverted towards dyes, plywood, cattle feed, and the textile industry.

“A bag of urea is sold at Rs 266 per 45 kilograms, while the same costs around Rs 3,000 to the Government of India. Highly subsidised urea is illegally diverted for non-agriculture and industrial purposes by many private entities,” added the senior official.

While launching the neem-coated urea project, the government had said one of the stated objectives of the scheme was to check the diversion of urea meant for agriculture. Being highly subsidised, there is always a tendency to divert urea towards non-agriculture purposes.