Urea crisis: Diggy's letter to Chouhan

Bhopal, Dec 27 (UNI) All India Congress Committee General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh has alleged that the state's Bharatiya Janata Party regime -- and not the Centre -- was wholly responsible for the state's urea crisis.

''The state government did not estimate, in advance, the demand for chemical fertiliser and did not demand the proper quantity from the Centre,'' he said in a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Copies of the missive were released to the press yesterday.

''That is the reason why the farmers have taken to the streets and the law and order situation is being challenged. Cooperatives were inadequately supplied with fertiliser. As a result, peasants did not receive it at a fair price,'' the Congress leader added.

Mr Singh quoted Union Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan as saying that the state demanded 40,000 tonnes urea for the first fortnight of January 2007 while the Centre supplied 2.5 lakh tonnes by December.

''For tackling the crisis, maximum urea should be supplied to the cooperatives and the fertiliser ought not to be given to the private sector,'' Mr Singh suggested.

UNI SD-AC PDM BD1548