An official statement stated that the state government on Sunday closed 30 fertilizer shops in protest against farmers against the alleged reduction of urea in parts of Odisha and suspended the license of 62 dealers during the enforcement drive.
To investigate black marketing and theft or fake fertilizers, the enforcement teams, which have been included at agriculture, revenue and police departments, have been formed at district and block levels.
Regular surprises of retail and wholesale points of fertilizers are being investigated across the state to investigate any illegal activity.
The state government said in a statement on Sunday that so far 4,546 retail shops have been inspected and notices have been issued to 1,202 retailers.
“Stop-cell notices have been issued to traders in 30 cases. In addition, the license of 62 dealers has been suspended for the alleged violation of fertilizer control order, 1985. The stock has also been confiscated in the premises of six dealers,” said this.
“Adequate fertilizer is available” in the state, the government claimed, while requesting the farmers to be afraid of any misleading information.
The statement said that the empowerment of agriculture and farmers has prepared a 58.50 lakh hectare kharif crop scheme for 2025.
Accordingly, the supply plan of 1 million metric tons of fertilizers was prepared and presented at the center, it was said.
The government statement said that based on monthly crop coverage for the kharif season, the Center has allocated 9.55 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers of various grade to the state.
According to the statement, the state has already received 8.10 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizer, till Saturday, the total availability has been taken to 11.04 lakh metric tonnes.
The Agriculture Department said that 8.46 lakh metric tonnes of different grade fertilizers have been sold to farmers till date, while 2.56 lakh metric tonnes are available in various districts.
The department also said that 11,692 metric tons of urea is in transit in various districts and will reach the next two days.
Meanwhile, paddy farmers in Malkangiri district staged a road blockade on NH -326 near Mathili, accusing them of black marketing of fertilizers during the extreme of the crop season.
The movement brought traffic in a stagnation for several hours. After receiving the assurance from the authorities, they withdrew the movement.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without amending the text.
