Central Govt. has raised serious concerns over the rising misuse of agriculture urea in several states including Andhra Pradesh. The govt. is suspicious of the use of agriculture grade urea for industrial and non-agricultural purposes. Agriculture department of Andhra Pradesh has responded to the directives of the Union agriculture secretary and cabinet secretary and issues a strict guideline to restrict the misuse of the urea meant for agriculture purpose.
Centre Concerned Over the Rising Misuse of Agriculture-Grade Urea
Dilli Rao the director of Agriculture said that the centre is continuously observing the increased use of Urea, during the current Kharif season 3.88 lakh metric tonnes of urea has been used, compared to 3 lakh metric tonnes last year an excess of 88,000 metric tonnes.
As per the reports urea which was intended solely for crop cultivation is also used for industrial uses such as plywood, varnish, paint, AdBlue solution, beer, illicit liquor manufacturing, aquaculture, poultry and animal feed. Some of it is allegedly smuggled across borders into neighbouring states.
In Andhra Pradesh, several districts including NTR, Eluru, Palnadu, Kurnool, Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, Chittoor, Tirupati, ASR, Manyam, Visakhapatnam, and Srikakulam share borders with Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, which has also raised the suspected risk of cross-border transportation.
Call for a High-Level Meeting
Dilli Rao the director of Agriculture is hopeful for a high-level meeting along with chief secretary to finalise enforcement strategies. Centre is also planning for coordination with transport department to evaluate and monitor movement across state lines. Sales data will also be scrutinised to identify unusual buying patterns.