Mohali Admn cracks whip on fertilizer dealers for irregularities in the distribution of urea by suspending four licenses

Mohali Admn cracks whip on fertilizer dealers for irregularities in the distribution of urea by suspending four licenses

Harshabab Sidhu
Nabaz-e-Punjab, Mohali, October 9:
Cracking the whip on the fertilizer selling outlets, Mohali Agriculture Department has suspended licenses of four dealers after alleged irregularities in distribution of urea in the district, informed Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan.
Under the Centre’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on fertilizers scheme, sale of fertilizers has been mandated with the use of biometric identification of farmer on the POS (Point of Sale) machines. Due to COVID 19 spread, the biometric authentication of farmer on POS was suspended by government.
Taking undue advantage of the situation, some of the firms were reported to have diverted the subsidized fertilizer, informed Deputy Commissioner.
Taking immediate cognizance of the matter, the officers of District Agriculture Department were directed to conduct random checks and monitor sale of urea. The department frisked the records of top 21 urea buyers and found that 8 dealers had made bulk purchases. The detailed enquiry revealed that four out of the eight dealers had recorded fake sales entries of the urea sold. The purchase verification from farmers brought to fore that they had made no purchase and the fertilizer sellers had wrongly shown them as buyers. Subsequently, the concerned firms were issued show cause notices and on not receiving a satisfactory reply the licenses of the said firms have been suspended, said Dayalan.
For violation of section 5 of the Fertilizer Control Order 1985 , the Chief Agriculture Officer-cum-licensing authority , has suspended licenses of M/s Thandi Fertilizers, Kharar, M/s New Zimidara Khaad Store, Handesra, M/s Chattar Sen Ramesh Kumar, Dera Bassi, M/s Aggarwal Khaad Bandaar, Banur.
“The Administration will increase the frequency of raids to ensure proper and legitimate sale of fertilizers,” asserted Girish Dayalan.