876 illegal bags of subsidised agriculture grade urea seized

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, August 31

The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Yamunanagar, has seized 876 illegal bags of subsidised agriculture grade urea from a godown in Dusani village of Yamunanagar district.

Was being sold in empty bags of technical grade urea

• The team also seized 1,100 empty bags of technical grade urea, 270 empty bags of agriculture grade urea and 500 empty bags of salt kept in the godown.
• The department authorities suspect that subsidised agriculture grade urea was being illegally sold by packing it in empty bags of technical grade urea and salt to industrial units.
• The rate of the subsidised agriculture grade urea is only ~266.50 per bag (45 kg bag) while the rate of technical grade urea is about ~2,400 per bag (50 kg bag).

The department also seized empty bags of technical grade urea and salt from the godown. The bags filled with agriculture grade urea, empty bags of technical grade urea and salt were seized by the authorities.

The authorities suspect that subsidised agriculture grade urea was being illegally sold by packing it in empty bags of technical grade urea and salt to industrial units.

The rate of the subsidised agriculture grade urea is only Rs 266.50 per bag (45 kg bag) while the rate of technical grade urea is about Rs 2,400 per bag (50 kg bag). It is alleged that the demand of agriculture grade urea is high in plywood factories of the district, where it is used to prepare glue, an adhesive.

According to information, after the authorities of the agriculture department received information regarding the illegal sale of agriculture grade urea, Yamunanagar Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA) Aditya Pratap Dabas immediately constituted a team on Friday. The team comprising Jagadhri SDO (Agriculture) Ajay Kumar, Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection) Harish Pandey and Assistant Plant Protection Officer Satish Kumar conducted an inspection of the godown. The team found 876 bags filled with agriculture grade urea, 1,100 empty bags of technical grade urea, 270 empty bags of agriculture grade urea and 500 empty bags of salt kept in the godown.

DDA Dabas said the record of 876 bags of the agriculture grade urea had not been entered in the fertilizer sales’ licence of the firm, therefore the said urea bags were illegal. He said one of the workers present in the godown could not produce bills and other necessary documents related to the purchase of the bags. He said technical grade urea could not be kept together with agriculture grade urea as the government provided subsidy on the latter.

An FIR has been registered at the Sadar police station in Yamunanagar. “Now, the police will investigate the matter and will ascertain the purpose behind keeping the empty bags in the godown,” said DDA Dabas. He said the samples of the seized agriculture grade urea were taken and sent for examination to a government laboratory.