Revanth Reddy pushes token system to ease urea crisis in Telangana

Amid mounting criticism over the urea shortage, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy urged tighter inter-departmental coordination and proposed a Tirupati-style token system for farmers at PACS centres to ease distribution and prevent chaos. He also lauded officials for rain crisis management

Kamareddy: Facing sharp criticism over the urea crisis in the State, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday emphasised the need for better coordination among departments and suggested issuing tokens in advance to farmers to stagger their arrival at PACS centres.

He directed district Collectors to convene coordination meetings involving multiple departments. Internal coordination was essential, particularly in urea distribution, he said during a review meeting here.

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Departments were asked to monitor stocks and situations at centres regularly and coordinate with the police or decentralise distribution in case of issues. “In a mandal with a population of 30,000–40,000, if only two shops are set up and 10,000 farmers arrive at once, problems are inevitable,” he observed.

At Rythu Vedikas, agriculture officers should coordinate with the police and issue tokens with the involvement of two police constables, the CM instructed.

He noted that even when stock was available, large crowds created long queues. “It takes about eight hours for the first and last person in the queue to get supplies. People lose patience and stage protests,” he said, urging officials to adopt a token system similar to Tirupati.

The Chief Minister also praised staff from various departments for effective crisis management during recent heavy rains, which limited the loss of life, property, and cattle. He had special words of appreciation for health officials.

While individual departments function effectively, gaps emerged when inter-departmental coordination was required, he pointed out. Measures were often delayed by a few days, defeating their purpose, he added.

Assuring another review meeting on the erstwhile Nizamabad district, the CM asked MLAs to compile requirements and directed officials to come prepared with proposals.