Hyderabad: Telangana state agriculture minister Niranjan Reddy said that there was no link between the death of a farmer in Dubbak and the shortage of urea in the state.
He told the media on Thursday that he condemned the allegation of opposition parties that the farmer died for this reason. The death of the farmer was a coincidence, Mr Niranjan Reddy said. “If a person who stands in the queue at the cinema for a ticket dies suddenly, is it the mistake of the cine people?” he asked.
He alleged that the urea meant for Telangana was diverted to Karnataka. Due to floods in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, urea-loaded trucks arrived late. But Telangana has sufficient urea stocks and farmers need not worry, he said.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy jumped onto the bandwagon and criticised Mr Niranjan Reddy for comparing the death of the farmer in the queue to the death of a man in a cinema queue.
In a statement he said that such a comment shows the insensitivity of the TRS government towards farmers and the farm sector.
In Khammam, farm officials say that the unprecedented increase of ayacut area under Bhakta Ramadas Lift Irrigation Project is among the main reasons for the high demand of urea.
The companies supplied 32,000 tonnes of urea so far and the district needs another 20,000 tonnes, farm officials said.
