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Haryana: DAP given in police presence, Cong flays govt over ‘shortage’
Congress general secretary and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja says the state government failed to take appropriate steps in time. An agriculture official, requesting anonymity, said the shortage issue will be sorted out in the next couple of days.
As the mustard sowing has picked up pace in south and central Haryana, the farmers have been given limited quantity of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) bags in presence of police personnel in the last three to four days in Bhiwani, Jind, Sonepat, Charkhi Dadri and Mahendergarh districts.
At the same time, Congress and farmer activists alleged that farmers have been grappling with DAP (fertiliser) shortage but the “government has failed to take appropriate steps” to address the issue. Long queues of farmers have been seen at some places in the state and even the police had to be called in for crowd management.
In Tosham assembly segment in Bhiwani, which is represented by irrigation minister Shruti Choudhry, farmers, who had gathered at primary agriculture cooperative society in Pataudi village on Sunday, were asked to visit the Tosham police station, which is nearly 24 km from this village to collect their slips from the cops to get the DAP.
Kuldeep Takshak, a resident of Hassan village in Tosham, “We had voted for the BJP for the first time and hoped that things would change for the farmers, but to no avail.”
In Uchana last week, a farmer sustained head injuries after cops resorted to lathi-charge to control the crowd of farmers, who came for DAP bags. Former two-time MLA Ran Singh Mann from Badhra said that the crises for fertiliser bags will worsen when the wheat growers will join the mustard growers in the first week of November.
Sanjay Kumar, sub-divisional agricultural officer, Bhiwani, said farmers were asked to visit the Tosham police station for slips only to avoid any confrontation as more farmers had gathered at Pataudi cooperative centre but the DAP bags were short.
An agriculture official, requesting anonymity, said the shortage issue will be sorted out in the next couple of days.
Congress general secretary and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja said the state government failed to take appropriate steps in time. “In many places, the situation has become dire and farmers have been forced to hold protests and demonstrations. After urea, DAP is the most widely used fertiliser in the country,” Selja said.
DAP contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which are primary nutrients for mustard, wheat and some other crops.
Loharu-based farmer activist Dayanand Poonia alleged, “This situation is not limited to Tosham. As mustard crop sowing is at its peak, at some other places in neighbouring districts too, the police had to be called for crowd management after long queues of farmers were seen at some cooperative societies.”
The state government had on Tuesday claimed that it had 4,22,958 metric tonnes of urea (including old stock), 27,357 metric tonnes of DAP, 72,487 metric tonnes of SSP (single superphosphate) and 31,206 metric tonnes of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). (With PTI inputs)
