UP agri minister urges Union rly minister to cut delay at stations

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 1 : Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has requested Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to reduce the delay of trains while transporting DAP fertiliser and urea to the state.
The state minister said transportation of DAP fertiliser and urea takes 8 -10 days from port to station and there are many stations where due to restriction it takes 1-2 more days due to which the supply of urea stops. Surya Pratap Shahi met Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw on Wednesday.
The Union Minister has also assured to minimise the delay in reaching the destination of urea fertiliser.
Surya Pratap Shahi said that Uttar Pradesh is an agricultural state, in which rabi crops are cultivated in 140 lakh hectares and sugarcane is cultivated in 26 lakh hectares, in which urea is used. There is a need for which a request has been made in this context after meeting the Railway Minister.
The sowing time of all the crops of rabi season is going on in the state. Sowing of rabi crops is a time-bound affair, therefore there is a high demand for phosphatic fertilisers within the state at present. Railways play an important role in timely supply of fertilisers. Due to the slow supply of DAP fertiliser in rabi month of October and November this year, farmers in many districts of the state are facing difficulty in getting DAP easily available at the time of sowing of crops, the minister said.
It was informed by the fertiliser manufacturing/supplier companies that the supply is slow due to the non-availability of a sufficient number of rakes from Eastern Port, Keenada, Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram, Y Jack and Paradip. Against the allocation of 149,800 million tonne DAP fertiliser from the above Eastern Port in November, till November 27, 2022, only 82,143 mt could be supplied and 67657 mt is left for supply.
The rakes dispatched from Paradip plant of IFFCO and PPL, and from Eastport are able to reach the destination in 8-10 days. At present, on an average, 25 to 30 fertiliser rakes remain in transit daily. The minister said it is essential to transport them quickly to their destination with minimum stability.
It is necessary to make 3-4 rakes available daily from Kandla and Paradip plants of IFFCO, the main supplier organisation of the cooperative sector, only then can DAP fertiliser be made available to the cooperatives continuously.
The Union Minister has also assured to minimise the delay in reaching the destination of urea fertiliser.
He requested to Union minister to make available 10-12 racks per day for the supply of DAP fertiliser in Uttar Pradesh according to the demand and at least stabilise the fertiliser racks and direct the concerned to reach the destination quickly so that DAP fertiliser can be easily available by the farmers at the time of sowing of rabi crops as per their requirement.