Fertiliser warehouse meant for districts in dire straits

MADURAI: The warehouse of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (Tanfed) situated on Bypass Road is stocked with fertilisers to meet the requirements of six southern districts - Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram. However, the condition of the warehouse is in dire straits as the building is leaking due to several holes in its ceiling.
Tanfed, which is involved in distributing agriculture inputs once agriculture season starts in the region, stores most of its buffer stock in this warehouse. The warehouse has a capacity to store 1,000 tonnes of all kind of fertilisers. Reacting to the leaking ceiling, Tanfed officials said they have started working on rectifying the building conditions.
According to S Irulappan, a contract worker, the warehouse has been in existence from the 1960s and the building condition has been deteriorating day by day. "During rainy days, the roof leaks damaging fertiliser bags. Further, the bags are stocked without gap from the wall when moisture escaping through vents, affect fertiliser quality. Moreover, there is no arrangement to load or unload bags and we take lot of risk without a proper set up. Recently, one of our workers fell down with a bag and suffered a fracture," he said.
P Alagu, another worker said they hardly have any basic amenities in the facility. "We don't even get good drinking water neither are there any toilets here," he said. The workers also pointed out that a mixer, an imported vehicle to mix fertilisers, is lying idle ever since it was bought four years ago. "The machine alone occupies space that can be used to store 100 tonnes of fertilisers," one of the workers said.
Agriculture officials said that most of the fertilisers are stored in Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) warehouses in the villages. The district has got nearly 276 PACS. "Only the buffer stock is stored in Tanfed warehouse while most of the fertiliser stock is transported to these societies as and when they are available," a senior official from the department said.
Farmers say that when such damaged fertiliser bags arrive at PACS, no one wants to pick it. "PACS are hesitant to place indents when they learn that particular fertiliser stock is damaged due to weather when stored in Tanfed warehouse," said a farmer. However, they said the district administration and Tanfed officials are striving hard to supply all necessary fertilisers for their disposal. "We have no dearth of fertilisers stock this year and farming community is satisfied with the supply," said R Arulpragasam, a farming community leader.
When contacted, officials from the regional office, Tanfed said they have written about the warehouse condition to higher officials.
Meanwhile, Tanfed regional office has ensured that adequate fertilisers are stocked in the district using central warehouse buildings and PACS warehouses as well. "We have all necessary fertilisers in stock and we will take assured steps to repair our warehouse as soon as possible," Mariswaran, regional manager, Tanfed said.