Increase supply of urea for Telangana: CM to Centre

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minster A Revanth Reddy requested the Central government to increase the supply of urea to the state, amid nationwide shortage.

He met Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals, JP Nadda, in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 8, and informed him that only 3.07 lakh metric tonnes of urea were supplied to Telangana between April and June, as against the requirement of 5 lakh metric tonnes in the Kharif season.

He also brought to the notice of the Union minister that 63,000 metric tonnes of domestically produced urea and 97,000 metric tonnes of imported urea were to be supplied to Telangana for July. However, it has received only 29,000 metric tonnes of urea so far.

Requesting Nadda to enhance the quota of domestically produced urea for Telangana, the chief minister asked to increase the number of rakes for urea supply since the railways have expressed reluctance in considering the demand for more rakes.

Urea shortage in Telangana

The state has been facing a shortage of urea, which has resulted in prices rising to Rs 325 per 45-kg bag against the subsidised rate of Rs 266.50 to Rs 268.

Earlier, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao had demanded an investigation into the fertiliser shortage in Telangana.

In a post on X, he lashed out saying “Who is running this black-market business from behind the scenes? Who is causing this artificial shortage, and who are the middlemen hoarding even fertilisers? An investigation must be conducted immediately.”

Amid the state facing a shortage of 1.94 lakh metric tonnes, agriculture minister Thummala Nageswara Rao wrote to JP Nadda and appealed for urgent steps to address the acute shortage of urea during the ongoing agricultural season.

Rao also wrote a letter to Union Ministers from Telangana G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, urging them to request the Centre to ensure the immediate supply of urea to overcome the shortage.