Odisha Govt Cancels Licences Of 163 Fertilizer Dealers

Bhubaneswar: Following allegations of rampant irregularities in the supply of fertilizers, the Odisha government has cancelled the licences of 163 dealers.

Informing the media after a high-level review meeting on Wednesday, Agriculture minister Arun Kumar Sahu said that as the department had received complaints against the 163 dealers for selling fertilizers at a high price, the government has cancelled their licences.

Stating that the department has lodged complaints against 9 dealers, he said to ensure the fertilizers being sold at the actual price to the farmers, the agriculture officers will verify each dealer point in the state.

Till date, all 6881 dealer points in the state have been verified of which 6572 points have been verified by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment while the district administrations have verified the godowns of 309 dealers, the minister added.

As irregularities have been detected during the verification, the department has issued a show-cause notice to 3784 dealers and asked 104 dealers to stop selling the fertilizers. Apart from this, nine staff of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) and Large Area Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS) have been suspended, he informed.