Nellore: District Collector Himanshu Shukla has warned of stringent action against those who sell urea at higher prices or store it in the godowns against the norms.

Addressing a video-conference along with the District Agriculture Officer P Satyavani, the Collector has ordered the Vigilance and Intelligence department officials to conduct flash raids on the black market and book cases.

He said that government has supplied urea as per the requirement of farmers in the current agriculture season. The collector has warned that the administration will not hesitate even sending the black marketers behind bars if found guilty. The Collector said that following directions of the government, the district administration has made available urea, pesticides and other agriculture needs at Rythu Seva Kendrams (RSKs) Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS), Cooperative Societies according to the needs of farmers in the district.

The Collector suggested to the tahsildars, MPDOs, agriculture officers to intensify the checkups to avoid irregularities in supply of urea. " Government is keen on supplying urea according to the needs of farmers. Individuals or agencies responsible for violating norms would facesevere consequences." he warned. On this occasion, the Collector has ordered the revenue officials to ensure of effective implementation of 'Sada Bainama' for addressing several problems of the farmers.

However, the Collector has admitted that there 60 per cent of land issues related to the farmers in the district would be addressed by Sankranthi. He ordered the tahasildars and MPDO to visit the villages and collect the land problems from the farmers.