Mahabubnagar: Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Tuesday conducted a review at IDOC on the current urea stocks and supply available in Mahabubnagar during which he urged district Collectors to coordinate with officials in the matter of urea and ensure that there are no problems in supply.

Jupally advised officials to take steps to immediately sell the urea stocks held by private dealers to farmers. He instructed the officials to register cases against traders selling fake seeds and fertilizer shop dealers, who are selling the urea at high prices and take action to punish them. He wanted the officials to take strict action against those, who create artificial shortages and spread rumours.

Rao said that the Collectors should hold press meets to reassure farmers, disclose stock details and remove the anxiety among the farmers. He said that the respective district collectors should take steps to ensure that the stock held by the private dealers was supplied properly.

He said that until the end of the ongoing crop season, an officer should be appointed for each fertilizer shop, PACS and Agro Seva Kendras and added that they should be given responsibilities. Police officials have been instructed to coordinate with agricultural department officials and the officers appointed for each shop to ensure that there are no problems in the supply of the urea. He said that the officials should estimate the amount of the urea required by the farmers for the upcoming Rabi season, prepare proposals according to the actual figures and send an indent to the state government district-wise, and added that the state government would send an indent to the centre based on those proposals.