Licences of two fertiliser firms cancelled

Chandigarh, July 13

The Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department has cancelled the licences of two fertiliser companies for supplying substandard Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) to the cooperative societies. The firms of which licences have been cancelled are M/s Madhya Bharat Agro Products Limited and M/s Krishna Phoschem Private Limited.

Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said as many as 40 samples were collected from the DAP stocks supplied to MARKFED by the companies. Of these samples, 24 were found to be of substandard quality as per Fertiliser Control Order 1985. The results of two samples are still awaited. The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare has also been informed about this for necessary action, he added.

Khudian said the Agriculture Department has launched a quality control drive across the state and set a target of testing 4,700 fertiliser samples during FY 2024-25.

Jaswant Singh, Director, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said as many as 1,004 samples of fertilisers have been collected under the quality control campaign and sent to different labs for testing so far.

The Agriculture Minister asked the Director Agriculture to review the supply of agricultural inputs to ensure the quality products to the farmers. The director said the sampling of fertilisers was being done in the districts according to their targets and arrival of DAP (18:46) and other fertilisers was being monitored.