Licence of 22 fertiliser dealers suspended

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, January 1

Cracking the whip on violators, the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department suspended licence of 22 fertiliser dealers in the district in the past three months (from October 1 to December 31, 2021).

The action was taken after it was found that the physical stock of the fertiliser did not match with the point of sale machine (POS machine) of the violators. “We suspended licence of 22 dealers in the district as their physical stock of the fertiliser didn’t match with the records of POS machines,” said Bal Mukand, quality control inspector of the agriculture department.

18 get it back after personal hearing

• Dealers whose licences were suspended were given a personal hearing to explain the mismatch
• Of the 22 dealers, four failed to satisfy the department officials and their licence was cancelled
• “The licences of the remaining 18 dealers were reinstated,” said agriculture quality control inspector Bal Mukand

The dealers whose licences were suspended were given a personal hearing to explain the mismatch. Of the 22 dealers, four failed to satisfy the department officials and their licence was cancelled. “Out of 22, four licences were cancelled because officials were not satisfied with the facts given by the dealers during personal hearing,” Mukand said, adding that the remaining 18 licences were reinstated. Now, most of the dealers have started maintaining records of fertiliser stock and match it with the POS machines. “The department is keeping tabs on all dealers now,” Mukand said.

One of the major reasons for the mismatch of the fertiliser stock (mainly urea) with the POS machine is said to be the illegal supply of subsidised urea to the plywood factories of the district.

Sources said several dealers were allegedly supplying subsidised urea, which is used for agricultural purposes, to the plywood industry where it was being used to prepare glue.

The rate of subsidised urea is Rs 266.50 per bag. However, the technical grade urea, meant for the industry, costs around Rs 2,800 per bag.

The agriculture authorities and the police reportedly seized 1,520 bags of subsidised urea from a building in Panjeto village of the district on December 28, 2021.

The owner of the building failed to produce any bill or document related to the purchase of the consignment to the authorities concerned.