Congress to launch yatra in MP over fertiliser ‘shortage’

Bhopal, Oct 17 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday said it will embark on a ‘Gaon-Khet Yatra’ soon to protest the alleged shortage of fertilisers and its black-marketing in Madhya Pradesh.

The move comes a month after the Congress took out ‘Kisan Nyay Yatra’ in the state, seeking a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of three crop produces, including soybean.

“We are going to organise state-wide farmers’ protests again. Now we are going to take out ‘Gaon-Khet Yatra’. We will get back to you all with the protest plan dates shortly,” MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari told reporters here.

“The BJP government in MP and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are anti-farmer. Farmers are not getting fertilisers, and its black marketing too was rampant across MP,” he alleged.

The (previous) BJP governments in MP helmed by Chouhan had stopped loan waiver (of Rs one lakh) to the poor farmers started by the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, Patwari charged.

He claimed that Chouhan, who calls himself the son of a farmer, had not done anything for cultivators when he was the chief minister of MP.

“That is why I call him anti-farmer,” the Congress leader said.

Referring to headlines of some newspapers regarding shortage of fertilisers, he said protests were taking place across the state.

“Rampant black-marketing of fertilisers is taking place in MP,” Patwari alleged.

Recalling the days when Congress governed MP, former state chief minister Digvijaya Singh said there was never shortage of a fertiliser bag from 1993 to 2003.

The Rajya Sabha member claimed the shortage of fertilisers and its black-marketing were now going on unchecked in MP.

The MP government had not demanded adequate share of fertilisers from the Centre for the state, Patwari and Singh said, claiming this has fuelled its shortage and black-marketing.