No shortage of DAP in Haryana, rumours fueling crowds at outlets: JP Dalal
Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, meanwhile, claimed that there was “shortage and black marketing of the fertiliser” in Haryana, forcing “all members of the farmer families to stand in queues to buy DAP”.
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The minister told the The Indian Express that there was a demand of one lakh tonne (20 lakh bags) DAP in October last year. (File)The long queues of farmers looking to buy DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) in different parts of Haryana has been fueled by rumours, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare JP Dalal Thursday said while claiming there was sufficient stock of fertiliser in state.
“Whenever there are rumours of shortage, farmers start seeking fertiliser for sowing the next cycle of crops too. Those involved in black market marketing also try to take advantage of the situation. We have reports of huge black marketing of the fertiliser in neighbouring Punjab and Rajasthan. To keep check on smuggling of the fertiliser to these states, we give it to our farmers only after checking documents such as Aadhaar or land documents. This too has led to queues of farmers in front of the offices of cooperative societies,” Dalal said.
The minister told the The Indian Express that there was a demand of one lakh tonne (20 lakh bags) DAP in October last year. “This time, we initially had 53,000 tonne fertiliser for October. Later 52,000 tonne more arrived in the state, taking the total to 1.05 lakh tonne. Another 9,000 tonne fertiliser will arrive in next two days. We have also sought additional 16 containers (48,000 tonne) of the DAP for the current month,” Dalal said.
DAP is an essential input for ensuring optimum productivity of wheat. The minister said the state has sought an additional two lakh tonne fertiliser for the sowing of wheat, which will start taking place from November 15. According to the minister, during the Rabi season last year, there was a demand of three lakh tonne DAP.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that there was “a slight shortage of DAP” but “we have advised to use another fertilizer, SSP (single super phosphate) as an alternative”. He said that agriculture department has been directed to ensure that both DAP and SSP is made available to the farmers so that mustard can be sown at the right time.
The neighbouring Punjab, which is facing an acute shortage of DAP, had earlier claimed that while it got only 41 per cent of the total allocation of the ferstiliser for the month of October, the BJP-ruled Haryana got 89 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 170 per cent of the total allocation.
Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, meanwhile, claimed that there was “shortage and black marketing of the fertiliser” in Haryana, forcing “all members of the farmer families to stand in queues to buy DAP”.
“If there is no shortage of the fertiliser why the tokens for its distribution are being given to the farmers from the police stations,” he asked.
However, a source in the government said the mechanism has been put in place at the local level to avoid any law-and-order problem.
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