While blaming the states for non availability of urea in the on-going Rabi season, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan has announced that the centre would bear the staggering cost involved in transportation and distribution of the main fertiliser in various states under a proposed New Pricing Scheme.

The recommendation is part of the NPS-III report, prepared under the chairmanship of economist Y.K. Alagh. The report is awaiting cabinet approval.

“We are committed to checking any blackmarketing by making the fertiliser units receiving subsidies more accountable and with the Centre bearing the cost the states have to see how effectively fertilisers reach farmers,” Paswan said. Some states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have recently complained of shortages in urea availability and the minister said that the Centre has decided to change its policy on plants supplying fertiliser to various regions by locating the new ones near the place of distribution.

“If a plant is situated in Haryana, the fertiliser produced by it should not go to far off Tamil Nadu. The produce would have to be distributed in the state and its neighbourhood areas”, he said adding that more dealers should be appointed at block and taluk levels so that fertlisers are available to farmers directly. The government would also be setting up two fertiliser units in joint ventures in Kuwait and Nigeria. The Kuwait unit will have a urea production capacity of one million tonne per annum while the Nigerian unit will have 1.1 million tonnes, he said.

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