Singireddy Niranjan Reddy denies shortage of urea, lashes at Congress for smear campaign

HYDERABAD: Telangana Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy conducted a high-level review on fertilizer supply at the secretariat in Hyderabad on Saturday and stated that there was no shortage of urea in the state and warned of stern action if any artificial scarcity was created.

Alleging that attempts were being made to create an artificial shortage of urea in the four primary agricultural co-operative societies in the erstwhile Nalgonda district by vested interests, Niranjan Reddy accused Telangana Congress leaders of launching a smear campaign based on this false narrative.

The minister fumed over the matter and stated that this was a malicious attempt. He said that the relevant cooperative societies will be investigated, and appropriate action will be taken.

The Minister assured the farmers that they need not worry about fertilizer availability and asserted that the Government allocated about 9.14 lakh metric tonnes of urea, out of which 7.78 lakh metric tonnes had already been supplied.

"As of March 31, there is an advance stock of 2.15 lakh metric tonnes of urea, making a total of 9.93 lakh metric tonnes available so far this season," he said, adding that current reserves in the state stood at 2.50 lakh metric tonnes including 15,838 metric tonnes of urea procured in the state on Friday.

The Minister stated that the cultivation was decreased by 10 lakh acres due to the delayed monsoon. However, he clarified that there was currently no shortage of fertilizers in the state. He informed that 908 Primary Agricultural Co-operative Societies and 16,615 authorised dealers were entrusted with the supply of fertilisers in the State.