Truck loaded with 500 bags of illegal urea impounded

Despite crackdown on the urea mafia by officials of the state Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, the smuggling of subsidised agriculture-grade urea continues unabated in Yamunanagar district.

A team of the Agriculture Department, Yamunanagar, caught a truck loaded with 500 bags of illegal subsidised agriculture-grade urea on Friday.

The driver of the truck reportedly failed to produce bills and other relevant documents related to the supply of the urea to the team of the Agriculture Department.

Aditya Pratap Dabas, Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Yamunanagar, said that on a tip-off, a team of the department had caught a truck from near Radaur town, situated on the border of Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra districts on Friday.

He said the truck was loaded with subsidised agriculture-grade urea.

“There were about 500 bags of subsidised agriculture grade urea inside the truck. When the team members asked the driver of the truck to produce documents, he failed to provide any bill and other related documents,” said Aditya Pratap Dabas.

He said the truck driver also failed to tell where the urea was loaded and where it was to be supplied.

He said the truck loaded with urea was handed over to the Radaur police.

Mohinder Singh, SHO, Radaur police station, said a case had been registered against the truck driver and the owner of the truck under Sections of Essential Commodities Act, Fertilizer (Control) Act and Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order. Notably, plywood and other industries can only use technical-grade urea and other chemicals to prepare glue.

The rates of subsidised agriculture grade urea are much lower than the rates of technical grade urea.

It is alleged that the owners of a number of plywood factories are using subsidised agriculture-grade urea illegally to prepare glue, which is used as an adhesive to prepare plywood products.

Used in plywood factories

Rates of agriculture-grade urea are much lower than the rates of technical-grade urea. It is alleged that owners of a number of plywood factories are using subsidised agriculture-grade urea illegally to prepare glue, which is used as an adhesive to prepare plywood products.