Digvijay Singh urges Madhya Pradesh government to curb black marketing of fertilisers

BHOPAL: Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today said Madhya Pradesh government should undertake immediate measures to prevent black-marketing of fertilisers in the state.
In a letter written to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Congress leader said, "As farmers are facing lots of problems in getting fertilisers because of black marketing, poor marketing and distribution network, I demand from you to take immediate measures to resolve this issue."

"Though the government rate for selling urea per bag (50 kg) is Rs 287, it is being sold in black market at Rs 450-500 per bag," Singh said.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister alleged that during the UPA rule, Chouhan used to criticise the Centre over similar issues in the state. "But now despite his party being in power at the Centre he is not taking the matter seriously."

Singh said black marketing of urea prevails in Guna, Harda, Vidsha, Hoshangabad, Sagar, Raisen and Chhindwara districts and sought immediate measures by the government to deal with the situation.

There is a demand of 20,000 MT of urea in Rajgarh parliamentary constituency, but only 10,000 MT is available leading to unrest among the farmers, he added.