Licenses of 22 fertiliser dealers suspended

Kakinada, Mar 24 (UNI) The licenses of 22 fertiliser dealers in East Godavari district have been suspended following detection of sale of substandard micro fertilisers and charging higher rates than prescribed, District Collector M Subrahmanyam said today.

Talking to newspersons here, he said the fertiliser supply position was satisfactory and ryots were provided with required fertilisers on time at the prescribed price.

The Rabi paddy crop position, he said, was encouraging and the yields were expected to be high. The Rabi paddy was raised in 4.15 lakh acres as against the normal area of 3.85 lakh acres, he said, adding the crop harvesting was expected to commence from April.

He claimed that the rodent control measures, for which Rs 20.50 lakh were spent, had yielded the desired results and had saved two bags of grains per acre, fetching the ryots Rs 38 crore in terms of crop saved.

Mr Subrahmanyam said East Godavari district was selected for increasing the production and productivity of pulses under the National Food Security Mission. Under the programme, the production of pulses would be increased by providing the required inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides to the ryots at 50 per cent subsidy.

UNI XR VA SJ 1559