Wyra farmers await urea for over a month, says Telangana Rythu Sangham
Farmers in Wyra mandal of Khammam district staged protests over delayed urea supply, despite submitting required documents a month ago. With only 445 bags available, many were left waiting, prompting demonstrations at the PACS warehouse and tahsildar office. Agriculture officials have assured distribution within two days.
Khammam: Farmers in Wyra mandal of Khammam district staged a dharna at the local PACS warehouse, complaining that they were not given urea even after a month had passed since submitting their passbooks and Aadhaar card photocopies.
The farmers stated that they had submitted the photocopies for urea on August 13, 14 and 16. After August 14, urea was supplied at the end of August and then again on September 12. As only 445 urea bags were available for distribution, the farmers who were waiting for urea for a month questioned officials about the delay and lack of resolution.
Urea distribution centres were set up at Wyra and seven other locations, but farmers were not receiving urea on time. The farmers along with Telangana Rythu Sangham leaders staged a protest at Wyra tahsildar office and submitted a petition to the tahsildar.
Divisional Agriculture Officer Karuna, Mandal Agriculture Officer Maya Manjakhan and SI, P Rama Rao visited the urea distribution centre and assured that urea would be provided to all the farmers who were listed in the distribution queue within two days.
Speaking to the media, the Rythu Sangham district secretary Bonthu Rambabu and urban secretary Ch Chalapathi Rao said that farmers were in a hurry to get urea as they feared that delayed application could reduce paddy yields.
Paddy is being cultivated across a large area in the district under Wyra reservoir ayacut. If urea is not applied within a few days, it may lose its effectiveness. Hence immediate steps should be taken to supply adequate urea to farmers, they said.
They also demanded compensation to the crops damaged due to the heavy rains in the past few days and set up Markfed centres for the purchase of green gram. The Sangham leaders Mallempati Rama Rao, Meda Sarabandhi, Yanamaddi Ramakrishna and others were present.
