Ms Kiran Choudhry, Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), has flayed the Manohar Lal Khattar Government for its miserable and total failure in tackling the issue of acute shortage of urea in the state and check its rampant smuggling to Delhi from Haryana.In fact, it is the smuggling which has made the short-of-demand supplies scarce still, and forced the angered farmers to come out on the roads in various parts of the state, block traffic and disrupt life, the former minister said in a statement issued here today.“Good that the Agriculture Minister, Mr Om Prakash Dhankar, has finally woken up from his slumber and contacted the Central Government to rush in additional supplies. But all through he has been telling the media that there is no shortage of urea at all. It is only after farmers resorted to rail roko agitation that the government has got into action. Mr Dhankar’s late and knee-jerk reaction confirms the fact of shortage and nails his lies on this issue”, she said.
“Though I pointed this out in my letter to the Chief Minister in the first week of this month, scant attention has been paid by the state government to check rampant smuggling and meet the shortage”, she added.Referring to the instances of people in different parts of the state coming out on the roads to protest non-availability of essential fertilizers, she wrote in her letter, “It is also a matter of great concern that rampant smuggling of DAP and urea fertilizers is going on from Haryana to Delhi by the dealers whereas the farmers of Haryana are protesting and raising anti-government slogans for want of urea.” Hammering the point home, she brought the attention of the Chief Minister to media reports regarding the police confiscating 300 bags of DAP being smuggled to Delhi.For want of non-provisioning of this essential commodity, the Rabi crops have been hampered badly leading to the worst situation for farmers and a great loss of revenue to the state exchequer. “I request you to look into the matter personally and instruct the authorities concerned to take necessary action for providing sufficient urea and DAP to the farmers without any delay, in the larger public interest for the farmers of Haryana”, she concluded.