Bihar agriculture minister says Centre not supplying enough urea; BJP hits back

BJP state unit president Sanjay Jaiswal hit back at the Bihar government claiming that there was no scarcity of urea in India or in Bihar. “This is the only state where right from the CM to the Agriculture Minister everyone is telling lies, writes Amit Bhelari of ETV Bharat.

Patna:Bihar Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvajeet on Saturday alleged that the Central government was discriminating against Bihar, claiming the adequate amount of fertilizer was not being sent to the state. “We are not getting the required fertilizers from the Centre and the State government is facing the scarcity of urea. Till November 18, the Centre only gave 37 per cent of urea against the requirement.

Till December 15, we want 2.55 lakh tonnes of urea for paddy farming. What is the guarantee of getting the remaining 67 per cent of urea in such a short span of time?" Sarvajeet asked. "Against the requirement of 1,22,300 metric tonnes of DAP we have only received 70 per cent, we should have got at least 90 per cent till date," he said.

BJP state unit president Sanjay Jaiswal hit back at the Bihar government claiming that there was no scarcity of urea in India or in Bihar. “This is the only state where right from the CM to the Agriculture Minister everyone is telling lies. Over 1,68,000 metric tonnes of urea is available. If the Agriculture Minister has the guts he must tell the people of Bihar how much urea there is in stock. I will provide the entire data on December 1 explaining how the Agriculture Minister, CM and Deputy CM are lying," Jaiswal alleged.

The requirement of urea for the Rabi crop in Bihar is 12.70 lakh metric tonnes, out of which 3.60 metric tonnes were needed from October 1 to November 18, while 3.75 lakh MT urea was made available during this period. He stressed that the Bihar government could make available only 2.07 lakh MT urea to the farmers. He said that 1.68 lakh MT urea is still available in the closing stock.

Another BJP leader and spokesperson of the party Dr Nikhil Anand also attacked the Bihar government over the fertilizers issue. "The Bihar government's claim of shortage of fertilizers is completely artificial and fabricated. Nitish Kumar and his ministers are claiming a false shortage of fertilizers to blame the Centre. While the reality is that despite ensuring the availability of fertilizers according to the need of the state by the Centre, the State government is unable to reach all the districts and blocks on time. In order to hide their shortcomings and inefficiency, CM Nitish Kumar and his ministers are not only running away from their responsibilities by blaming the Central government but they are also evading it," Anand told ETV Bharat.

He accused the State government's claim of a shortage of fertilizers in the State as baseless and devoid of any factual basis. “There is sufficient availability of fertilizers in the country as well as Bihar to meet the requirements of Rabi season 2022-23. The Central government is sending fertilizers to all the states as per their requirement.

Thereafter, it is the responsibility of the respective State governments to ensure the availability of fertilizers in their state through intra-district and inter-district distribution. The Bihar government has failed miserably in the proper distribution of fertilizers in every district and block," Nikhil asserted. He also released the details based on the information received by the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers claiming that the Centre is sending the fertilizers but the State government is not distributing them properly.