Demanding distribution of urea fertilisers to all farmers, volunteers of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), Manipur Prant on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest in front of the Agriculture Directorate in Imphal East. They threatened to call a 24-hour statewide bandh from the midnight of July 8 if the state government fails to give a clear assurance on their demand before the said date.
Speaking to the media, general secretary of BKS, Manipur, Prant Dara Singh, said that as fertilisers are distributed through the respective MLAs, most of the farmers who had voted against them in the election were not getting the fertilisers.
The fertilisers are made available to only those having close links with the MLAs and their supporters during election, he added.
The announcement of the government on having enough stock of urea and assurance of distributing it to those genuine patta-less farmers have become just mere words as there is no any such information in the DAO offices and the poor patta-less farmers are not getting the fertilisers due to not having any proof.
He drew the attention of the state government to streamline the process of fertiliser distribution by taking it in the local pradhan or member level as they know the farmers and the areas of framing in the region in detail.
As the farmers are not getting the subsidised urea fertilisers, they are now buying it from the black market at the rate of Rs 1,500 per bags or Rs 50 per kilogram, he said, adding making the urea available in the open market will at least ease some of the burden faced by the farmers.
