The DC said that taking undue advantage of the situation, some dealers reportedly diverted the subsidised fertiliser. (Representationl)The Mohali Agriculture Department suspended the licence of four fertiliser dealers after alleged irregularities in distribution of urea came to the light.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan said that under the Centre’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on fertilisers scheme, the dealers were mandated to sell the fertilisers to farmers only after obtaining the purchasers’ biometric identification on PoS machines. However, due to Covid-19 outbreak, biometric authentication of farmers on PoS machines was suspended by the government.
The DC said that taking undue advantage of the situation, some dealers reportedly diverted the subsidised fertiliser.
“Taking immediate cognisance of the matter, officers of the District Agriculture department were directed to conduct random checks and monitor the sale of urea. The department frisked the records of top 21 urea buyers and found that eight dealers had made bulk purchases. The detailed enquiry revealed that four out of the eight dealers had recorded fake sales entries of urea,” the DC added.
He further said that purchase verification from farmers, brought the facts to fore that they had made no purchase and the fertiliser sellers had falsely shown them as buyers. Subsequently, the concerned firms were issued show cause notices. Further, in the absence of a satisfactory reply in the matter, their licenses have been suspended.
For violation of Section 5 of the Fertilizer Control Order, the Chief Agriculture Officer-cum-licensing authority, suspended licences of Thandi Fertilizers, Kharar, New Zimidara Khaad Store, Handesra, Chattar Sen Ramesh Kumar, Derabassi, and Aggarwal Khaad Bandaar, Banur.
“The Administration will increase the frequency of raids to ensure proper and legitimate sale of fertilisers,” the DC said.
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