‘Agriculture dept to cancel license of those involved in black marketing of fertilisers’

Kolkata: The state Agriculture department is going to take stringent action on the black marketeers of fertilisers as their licenses will be cancelled by the department.

State Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Friday said that his department has identified those who have indulged in black marketing of fertilisers and a list has been prepared.

“Earlier we held virtual meetings with the fertiliser producers, dealer associations and the department officers where all the stakeholders were categorically told to check black marketing of fertilisers. Our officers were sent to the districts where they settled the grievances of the complainants. We have identified those who were involved in black marketing. They have been served show-cause notice and action will be taken as per norms. Their licenses will be withheld or cancelled,” Chattopadhyay said.

The minister also added that they have the provision to blacklist the dealers who are found to be indulging in black marketing. The department is carrying out a probe to find out if any employees of the department at the lower level are involved in black marketing. “We have sent officers in every district to strengthen surveillance,” the minister stated.

Earlier this year, the department had stopped the sale of fertiliser in the case of 65 shops and cancelled the licenses of 11. About 1,386 had been served show cause notices and 1,299 had been warned against charging higher than the earmarked price from the farmers. The NPK variety of fertilizer has the highest demand in the state, however, the Centre has cut down its supply by leaps and bounds in the last three years, the minister added.

Chattopadhyay had earlier pointed out the lesser allocation of the Centre for schemes like ATMA (National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Training, RKVY (Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana) and micro irrigation that are jointly executed by the Centre and

the state.