Hyderabad: The State Government is worried about not receiving its full urea supply from the Union Government. Two letters sent to the Centre about this issue have not been answered yet.
Officials stated that the Central Government promised 9.80 lakh metric tonnes of urea for the upcoming farming season and shared a monthly supply plan with the State. The State had already stored 5 lakh metric tonnes of urea and planned for the expected demand before the season started.
Despite this, the Centre delivered 0.48 lakh metric tonnes less urea in April and 0.66 lakh metric tonnes less in May than promised. This caused a total shortage of 1.14 lakh metric tonnes in these two months.
From the 3.30 lakh metric tonnes promised until May, only 2.16 lakh metric tonnes have been delivered. State Agriculture Minister T Nageshwara Rao confirmed that the government officially asked the Centre to send the missing 1.14 lakh metric tonnes along with June’s supply. The State Additional Director met with central officials on May 19 and repeated this request on May 26 during June’s allocation discussions.
The Minister requested that most of the June supply come from domestic sources. However, out of the 1.70 lakh metric tonnes allocated for June, only 37 percent is from domestic companies, while 67 percent is from imported urea.
Since the Centre has not responded about the 1.14 lakh metric tonnes shortage, Minister Rao has directed officials to meet central authorities again this week to resolve the issue.
With the monsoon season underway, the Minister has sent another letter to the Centre, urging for the full urea supply allocated to the State until June to be delivered promptly.
