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| Bunglings in sale, distribution of fertilizers in J&K: CAG | | Societies, dealers do not have valid licenses | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 6: Rebutting vehement claims of Agriculture Ministry of Jammu and Kashmir, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has indicted cooperative marketing societies and private dealers of lifting and selling fertilizers across the state without valid licenses.
In another startling revelation, CAG has said that around 60 percent farmers of Jammu and Kashmir are not aware about maximum retail prices (MRP) of fertilizers they buy, while 65 per cent fork out more than the MRP and 59 percent face problems in getting their season's full requirement in time. Around 70 percent farmers do not get receipts for the purchase of fertilizers.
These are the spine chilling findings of a countrywide survey of 5,498 farmers conducted by field audit teams of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and reported in its 'Performance Audit of Fertilizer Subsidy'. The survey, conducted during June 2009 and March 2010, reveals marked disparities with regard to pricing and availability of fertilizers at the farmer level
CAG has pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation which is the only lifting agency in the state has no valid license. It has added that most of the cooperative marketing societies and some private dealers, dealing with sale of fertilizers do not have valid licenses as required under the FCO-1985. In certain cases, CAG has noticed that the societies and dealers having retail license were doing sale of fertilizers as wholesale dealers.
Pointing towards another glaring discrepancy, audit has revealed that stock registers as required under clause 35 (1) (a) in form-N of the fertilizer (control) order-1985 had not been maintained by the dealers. Cash memos in support of sale of fertilizers in form-M required to be issued by the dealer as per clause 5 of Fertilizer (control) order-1985 had not been maintained and no cash/credit memos were issued.
In what could be termed as scandalous purchase of fertilizers, audit has revealed that purchase bills in support of purchase of fertilizers were not available with the dealers and instead, only challans showing the quantity of material received were available with the dealers in some cases.
Reflecting another major concern, CAG has referred to sale of subsidized fertilizer to cattle feed manufacturing units involving primary subsidy of Rs. 91.09 lakh. Referring to its findings, CAG has stated that Jammu and Kashmir Agro Industries Development Corporation Limited irregularly sold 162 metric tonnes of Urea involving subsidy of Rs. 22.81 lakhs during 2006-09 to its cattle feed manufacturing unit at Jammu.
It has pointed out that five private cattle feed manufacturing units of Jammu division purchased 484.920 metric tonnes of urea from various retail dealers during 2006-09 involving a subsidy of Rs. 68.28 lakh. Interestingly, audit scrutiny has revealed that despite such huge sales, no dealer maintained the record of sales and hence, it was difficult to know factual position of the correctness of these sales.
It has even said that names of the manufacturers could not be ascertained. Audit has said that an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) prescribed for analyzing micronutrients, purchased in February 2002 for laboratory in Jammu was unserviceable. Further, vacuum dessicator, Indian standard sieves, sample grinder, top pan balance and deionizer required for testing were not available in the laboratory. |
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