Lok Sabha Question No. 1901 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-03
Subject: Shortage of Fertilizers
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF FERTILIZERS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1901 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 03.03.2020

Shortage of Fertilizers

## +1901. SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is shortage of fertilizers in the country specially in Gujarat;
- (c) whether  the Government is effective in . controlling oftoxic chemicals into the rivers; and
- (b) the details of the taken by the Government to deal with artificial shortage of fertilizers in the interest of the farmers; steps
- (d) the details of the action being taken by the Government to penalise the industries discharging untreated toxic water into the rivers?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI D.V. SADANANDA GOWDA)

(a): Sir . The requirement; availability and sales position of fertilizers (Urea and P&K) during Rabi 2019-20 (as on dated i.e 25.02.2020) in the State of Gujarat is as follows: No,

## <Figures in LMT>

Source: e-urvarak Dashboard

| Rabi 2019-20 (01.710.2019 to 25.02.2020)   | Pro Rata Requirement   |   Availability |   DBT Sales |
|--------------------------------------------|------------------------|----------------|-------------|
| Urea                                       |                        |          13.39 |       11.11 |
|                                            | 4.54                   |          11.07 |        6.42 |

It can be seen from the above table that availability of Urea and P&K fertilizers against sales and requirement is sufficientl adequate in Gujarat and there is no shortage of fertilizers.

- (b): Following steps are being taken by the Government to ensure timely supply of adequate fertilizers to the farmers across the country:

Before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture , Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), in consultation with all the State Governments assesses the requirement of fertilizers. After assessment of requirement; DAC&FW projects month-wise requirement of fertilizers.

On the basis of   month-wise & state-wise   projection  given by DAC&FW, Department of Fertilizers allocates  sufficientl adequate   quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan-and-continuously monitors the\_availability through following system:

- The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring  system called integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS);
- (iii) Regular Weekly Video Conference is   conducted  jointly by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) , Department of Fertilizers (DoF), and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments\_
- i) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc.
- (iv) The gap between demand   (requirement) and  production is met through imports The import for the season is also finalised well in advance to ensure timely avaiiability.

Further; to maintain the availability of fertilizers in all parts of the Statel UTs, the monitoring of supply is being carried out by the senior officers of the Government at State and district level so that artificial scarcity cannot be created.

(c) & (d): The Ministry of Environment; Forest & Climate Change has taken various steps for controlling discharge of toxic chemicals into rivers like

- Formulation and notification of general as well as industry specific effluent standards for various industrial sectors, which are enforced by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) for UTs through consent mechanism and regular monitoring:
- CPCB has issued directions to all 17 category of highly polluting industries and Grossly Polluting Industries (GPI) in Ganga basin States to install Online Effluentl Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS) with connectivity to SPCBs concerned and CPCB for real-time monitoring of discharge of effluents and emission:
- CPCB has   established a network of water quality monitoring stations on aquatic resources across the country
- CPCB has started inspection of 17- category of highly polluting industries since 2016 onwards based on the alerts  generated by Online Continuous Emission/ Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS): Based on the inspection finding, directions are issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act; 1986 to non-complying industries, which includes show-cause as well as closure-