Urea crisis: Government is turning farmers into beggars, says Rythu Sangham

Activists of the Telangana Rythu Sangham staged protests across Khammam, demanding urgent supply of urea and opposing the Centre’s decision to lift duties on cotton imports. Leaders blamed the fertiliser shortage on delayed imports and halted production at Ramagundam.

Khammam: Demanding that the State and Central governments ensure adequate supply of urea, activists of Telangana Ryhthu Sangham staged protests at various locations in erstwhile Khammam.

Farmers and the Rythu Sangham leaders staged a demonstration at Kamepally mandal headquarters on Thursday.

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Speaking on the occasion the Rythu Sangham district secretary Bonthu Rambabu and its vice president Duggi Krishna complained that the Central government had failed to import urea from abroad on time and the Ramagundam Fertilizer Factory in Telangana had halted production, leading to shortage of urea.

In many areas, urea was not being supplied to farmers who did not possess pattadar passbooks. Urea should be supplied to farmers who were not registered in the government records, based on Aadhaar cards.

The Centre’s move to lift 11 percent duty on foreign cotton imports and allow the import of 40 lakh bales of cotton from the US would financially harm Indian farmers. The Centre should continue the import duty on cotton, Rambabu demanded.

Similarly a dharna was held at Sujathanagar PACS in Kothagudem by the Rythu Sangham activists and a memorandum was submitted to the tahsildar seeking adequate supply of urea to farmers.

The sangham leaders Bhukya Shankar, Annavarapu Satyanarayana and Kunsoth Dharma the State and Central governments had turned farmers into beggars by failing to ensure sufficient stocks of urea during the season.

If urea is not applied to crops on time, yields may decline. The Centre is not supplying urea as per the quota allocated to the State and is deliberately cutting subsidies under the pretext of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers, they noted.