Nagarkurnool: Urea shortage troubles farmers again in Bijnapally

Farmers in Bijnapally, Nagarkurnool, are yet again struggling to secure adequate urea supplies, with many forced to spend nights at government offices. Despite long queues, cultivators reportedly received only two to three bags each.

Nagarkurnool: Farmers in Bijnapally are once again facing hardships in securing sufficient urea this season. As in the previous season, several farmers spent the night at the single-window office, Rythu Vedika and the Gram Panchayat on Friday, waiting for their turn to receive urea on Saturday morning.

Braving the cold weather, farmers, including a few women, slept on the floor at the Gram Panchayat office. Many of them had arrived from neighbouring villages at the mandal headquarters in Bijnapally on Friday night.

The farmers expressed anger at the Congress government for what they described as tall claims about the availability of urea in the State. Several farmers complained that they were forced to skip work in their fields and spend long hours standing in queues to secure urea.

Despite waiting in serpentine queues for extended periods, farmers reportedly received only two to three bags.

Adding to their woes, farmers alleged that new conditions, including mandatory registration through a mobile application, were being imposed to obtain urea bags.

Meanwhile, under the aegis of the CPI Telangana Rythu Sangham, farmers staged a protest at the mandal headquarters in Munugode, demanding that the State government scrap the mandatory slot-booking system for securing urea. The protesters later submitted a memorandum to the Tahsildar.

According to farmers’ leaders, cultivators were facing multiple challenges due to the compulsory slot booking through the Fertiliser Vikas Yojana application. Apart from poor mobile network connectivity, many farmers were not comfortable operating smartphones. They also pointed out that there was little awareness among farmers on how to lodge complaints in case of technical glitches in the app.

They said it had been over a month since paddy saplings were transplanted, yet farmers continued to struggle to obtain urea.