New Delhi, July 25 (KNN) A Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Odisha has sought response from the government over “making the fertilizer companies responsible for supply chain losses”.

Speaking during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, the party MP from Cuttack Bhartruhari Mahtab said, “The Government has decided  to  change  the  contours  of  giving  fertilizer  subsidy  to companies on actual sales made to farmers through point of sale, as the Minister was saying on point of sale devices.”

To aware farmers about the point of sale system and keep a check on real demand for fertilizers and actual utilization to avoid over-invoicing, diversion and other leakages, let us hear from the government that how you are making the fertilizer companies responsible for supply chain losses, he asked.

Replying to the question asked by Mahtab, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Rao Inderjit Singh said, “The government decides the quantity of fertilizers a state needs and later whether the quantity has been reached to the government. Once the fertilizers reached the state government then it can take the control. If the company has not been distributing fertilizers to the people, the state government can take action against the company under the Essential Commodities Act.”

Singh further said that the cases of smuggling and black marketing have been reduced during the tenure of current government.

He said there were zero smuggling cases reported in 2015-16 while there were only 8 cases of black marketing. In 2016-17, for both smuggling as well as black marketing zero cases were reported.

He said in 2017-18, only one case of smuggling and 2 cases of black marketing were reported.

On holding fertilizer companies accountable for this, Rao Inderjit Singh said it can be done only when there is any complain about this.

Kirti Vardhan Singh, a BJP MP from Gonda said that apart from cases of black-marketeering and smuggling, the availability of railway rakes also plays a vital role in the timely supply of fertilizers throughout the country.

Singh said, “From there, it is an onward transmission to the various points of sale in all blocks of the districts. Due to the shortage of railway rakes or the fact that a lot of them are pending upgradation, the supply of fertilizers to these points of sale is not sufficient during the peak demand time. Now, this has an adverse effect on the crops and also on the agricultural production in the country.”

The MP asked about the number of requests pending before the Ministry for the opening of new rakes especially by the Government of UP.

“I would also like to know whether the Ministry proposes to develop new rake points locations which have feasibility constrain,” Kirti Vardhan Singh said.

Responding to this, Rao Inderjit Singh said, “There is a system in place whereby every month there is a meeting of the Railways with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fertilizers. They evaluate as to how many rakes are required for which State.”

If there is some place where the rakes have not reached in time, it is to be brought to our notice. But, so far we have given additional 628 rakes compared to 2017. We have supplied nearly 20 lakh metric tonnes extra via these initiatives of the Government, he said. (KNN Bureau)