Fertiliser dealers ‘violating’ rules

Urea bag being sold in Bahawalnagar at Rs3,600 in defiance of govt price

BAHAWALNAGAR:

The farming community in and around Bahawalnagar is reportedly paying high prices for fertilisers in the district.

The Kissan Ittehad Association alleged that dealers and retailers had been hoarding urea to make illegal profit because this was the time when fertilisers were needed the most for the cotton crop.

Iftikhar, a farmer, alleged that the dealers had been black marketing fertilisers.

He said that many dealers in the district had been selling a urea bag from Rs3,400 to Rs3,600 with total impunity against the official rate of Rs2,950 a bag.

He alleged that the administration had completely failed in controlling the rate of the fertilisers.

The farmers were apprehending that cotton paddy and sugarcane crops were going to be badly affected due to non-availability of urea at the prescribed government rate.

Amjad Wattoo, a landlord, told The Express Tribune that Bahawalnagar was one of the leading cotton producing districts of the country.

Cotton produced in Bahawalnagar played an important role in the country's economy.

Another landlord, Sajjad Abdullah, demanded of the district administration to take action against the dealers who had been allegedly “stockpiling” fertilisers.

He said the administration must work proactively to ensure availability of fertilisers at the official rate in the open market.

Farmers say that when it came to the matter of wheat, the administration “forcibly took it from their homes at the official rate”, but when farmers became buyers, nothing was sold to them at the official rate.

Rehan Alam of the Agriculture Department was contacted to get his views on this matter, but he was not available.

When the assistant commissioner was contacted for more information, he did not respond.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2023.