BLURB: The Bathinda-based NFL unit reportedly has an agreement with a Sirsa-based company to purchase city compost, but as NFL faces difficulty in selling this product, it’s exploiting the crisis to cut a deal

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 18

Amid acute urea shortage in the ongoing wheat-sowing season, two units of the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) producing urea at Nangal and Bathinda are allegedly forcing fertiliser dealers to buy many organic fertilisers with urea.

With no demand among farmers, the dealers don’t want to buy these organic fertilisers.

As per the estimates by the agriculture department, Punjab needs about 15 lakh tonne urea for wheat and other crops during this rabi season. The total urea production capacity of both Bathinda and Nangal units of NFL is about 3,200 tonne daily.

At the time when there is huge gap between the demand and supply of urea, the NFL units are dictating the fertiliser dealers to buy many bio-fertilisers (solid and liquid) with the urea.

These bio-fertilisers include rhizobium, phosphate solubilising bacteria, azotobacter and city compost. City compost is prepared from the city garbage, said some dealers on the condition of anonymity.

The Bathinda-based NFL unit has an agreement with a Sirsa-based company to purchase the city compost but the NFL always faces difficulty in selling this product in the absence of demand among farmers. But in this time of crisis when there is acute shortage of urea, the NFL is allegedly forcing fertiliser dealers to purchase these products with urea for promoting the use of compost and other bio and organic fertilisers.

Denying the allegations, Tirtharup Mandape, production manager, NFL, Bathinda, said they were not forcing any dealer to purchase these products with urea. “We are working overtime to produce urea and we are producing about 1,650 tonne daily,” he said.