Central team inspects fertiliser godowns in Karnal, suspends licences of 3 dealers

A joint team of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers and the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Karnal, conducted inspections across the district to assess the status of fertiliser availability, supply, and distribution.

The team comprising a Deputy Secretary and Assistant Section Officer, is scheduled to stay in the state for two-three days. It is inspecting shops and godowns to ensure compliance with distribution norms.

During the inspections in Karnal, which went on till Thursday night, several irregularities were observed, including improper maintenance of stock registers and absence of mandatory price displays on premises. Taking note of the violations, the Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), Dr Wazir Singh, suspended the licences of three dealers.

He said to curb illegal practices, such as black marketing, hoarding, and unregulated tagging, a team from the Union government visited Karnal on Thursday. “During the surprise inspection, the team found irregularities in the stock and records of certain dealers. We have suspended their licences. We also conduct regular checking and so far, we have suspended the licences of 16 dealers across the district,” he said.

He said DC Uttam Singh had constituted a committee at the sub-divisional level comprising the SDM concerned, tehsildar/naib-tehsildar, sub-divisional agriculture officer, quality control inspector, and assistant plant protection officer in each team. The teams were conducting random inspections of fertiliser and pesticide vendors.

During the kharif season, about 5.3 lakh acres in the district was cultivated with various crops—4.5 lakh acres under paddy, 42,000 acres under sugarcane, and 38,000 acres for other crops, he said. The estimated fertiliser requirement for the season was 95,000 metric tonnes (MT) of urea and 20,000 MT of DAP.

So far, the DAP requirement had been met, and 72,400 MT of urea had been sold in the district. He said adequate stocks of fertilisers were available, and additional one lakh bags of urea were expected to arrive in the next three to four days.

Farmers have been urged to use fertilisers as per the recommendations of Soil Health Cards.