The Centre has allotted 21.8 lakh tonnes of fertilizers, including 10.5 lakh tonnes of urea, to Telangana for the next kharif season. However, the State has received only about one-third of the quota for April so far.
At a meeting held here on Saturday to review the positioning of fertilizers for kharif season, Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy stated that 8 lakh tonnes of NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium) and 1.5 lakh tonnes each of DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) and MoP (Muriate of Potash) had also been allotted to the State for kharif.
Requesting fertilizer companies to supply month-wise quota allotted to them in time, he said that only 0.35 lakh tonnes urea had reached the State so far.
He asked the handling agencies to arrange for the required storage space as per their agreement with Markfed in tune with the arrival of railway rakes. In a specific request made to fertilizer company Iffco, he wanted it to move its quota to Telangana for April from its 22,000 tonnes of urea stationed at a port in AP.
The Minister instructed Collectors concerned to take the initiative to arrange workers for loading and unloading urea at rake points. In case officials face storage issues, they could make use of function halls, he suggested. He told the officials of agriculture department, Markfed and fertilizer firms, to coordinate among themselves.