Centre flags misuse of agriculture urea in AP
Responding to directives from the Union agriculture secretary and cabinet secretary, the Andhra Pradesh agriculture department is preparing to issue strict guidelines to curb misuse. Director of agriculture Dilli Rao said the Centre observed a sharp increase in urea usage during the current Kharif season — 3.88 lakh metric tonnes compared to 3 lakh metric tonnes last year — an excess of 88,000 metric tonnes.
Urea, intended solely for crop cultivation, is reportedly being diverted for use in industries such as plywood, varnish, paint, AdBlue solution, beer, illicit liquor manufacturing, aquaculture, poultry and animal feed.
Some of it is allegedly smuggled across borders into neighbouring states.
In Andhra Pradesh, several districts — including NTR, Eluru, Palnadu, Kurnool, Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, Chittoor, Tirupati, ASR, Manyam, Visakhapatnam, and Srikakulam — share borders with Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, raising the risk of cross-border transportation.
A high-level meeting, led by the chief secretary, will soon finalise enforcement strategies. Coordination with the transport department is also being planned to monitor movement across state lines.
Dilli Rao added that district-level meetings will follow, involving district collectors, joint collectors and industrial stakeholders. Sales data will be scrutinised to identify unusual buying patterns.
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