Telangana ministers fly abroad even as urea crisis grips State

Telangana farmers continue protests over acute urea shortages, with long queues and unrest across the State. Meanwhile, Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu and Labour Minister Vivek Venkatswamy travelled to Dubai for private events, drawing criticism from senior Congress leaders

Hyderabad: As unrest continues to grip the farming community over urea crisis with many instances of instant protests happening across the State, a couple of ministers have travelled to Dubai to attend private programmes.

Even as the agitated farmers wait in serpentine queues to get a bag of urea, Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu flew to Dubai to participate in an awards function. Similarly, Labour Minister Vivek Venkatswamy also left for “meetings”. Sources said the Industries Minister was invited to attend the South Indian Business Awards (SIBA) and that he might return home after a couple of days.

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After a review meeting with Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited on August 23, the Industries Minister along with Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao had assured farmers there was no need to worry. He had also said that measures were being initiated to augment supply of urea in the State. However, even after a week, the situation remained the same and farmers continue to stand in long queues at PACS across the State, besides staging protests.

Farmers have been questioning the State government over its lack of planning and its failure to ensure availability of sufficient stocks ahead of the current season. On the contrary, Labour Minister Vivek Venkatswamy blamed the Union government for urea crisis in the State. Speaking to media persons a fortnight ago, the Minister charged that the Centre lacked vision and planning in supplying urea stocks to the State.

The blame game apart, the ministers who could go to their respective constituencies to ameliorate the sufferings of the people, have only chosen to visit a foreign country and this does not augur well for the government, said a senior Congress leader.