Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav on Wednesday passed strict directives that the collectors would be held fully responsible if there is any unavailability of fertilisers or unrest due to irregularity in its distribution system in the districts of the state.
The CM passed the instructions during a review meeting about the fertiliser distribution process across the state.
Regular complaints about a lack of fertilisers, discrepancies in distribution, mismanagement at the government fertiliser distribution centres, and alleged black marketeering, leading to severe unrest among farmers, have been pouring in from almost all districts of the state for the past many days.
On Tuesday, enraged farmers staged a demonstration at a fertiliser distribution centre in the Rewa district, alleging that they had been standing in long queues overnight but still did not get the fertiliser. The police had resorted to a lathi charge on the peasants, leading to further outrage.
A few days before that, ruling BJP MLA from Bhind district, Narendra Singh Kushwaha, had cornered his own government and staged a dharna outside the official residence of Bhind Collector Sanjeev Shrivastava over the allegations of a lack of fertilisers for farmers.
He alleged that farmers were being unduly harassed for fertilisers, and despite waiting in long queues, the peasants were not being supplied fertilisers from the government distribution centres.
The farmers also alleged that fertiliser was easily available in the open market at high prices, raising concerns about black marketing.
MLA Kushwaha alleged that the collector had issued an order that each farmer would be given a maximum of two sacks of fertilisers only, which is very little.
In today’s review meeting, the CM said that the collectors must ensure that the fertiliser distribution system operates smoothly. The CM directed the collectors to inform the farmers well in advance about the arrival of the racks of fertilisers at the distribution centres, so that there is no confusion or commotion.