After farmers charged that fertilizers were being sold at exorbitant rates, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao directed Agriculture department to monitor the sale.
In a press release, he said that the officials had been directed to keep tabs on movement of fertilizers from godowns to retail outlets. All dealers and primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) should display details of price and stock prominently. Since some of the goods might have been manufactured before the GST regime, the dealers should mark them as ‘before GST’ and ‘after GST.’ He appealed to the farmers to get receipt and produce their Aadhaar cards while buying fertilizers.
According to Agriculture Department officials, teams had been formed to conduct random checks across the district. There were about 320 retail outlets, including 160 PACS, in the district. Apart from the stock kept at the authorised godowns, fertilizer manufacturers and Tamil Nadu Cooperative Marketing Federation (TANFED) also had stocks, which could be moved immediately, Mr. Rao said.
At the recent farmers’ grievance day meeting, the members alleged that many dealers had not put up boards to display either the price per bag or stock availability, for which the Collector had assured to take action.
