IMPHAL, Aug 25 - Irate farmers stormed into the Agriculture Department office here today, demanding supply of urea.
Farmers from both the valley and the hill districts arrived at the Agriculture office at Sanjenthong in Imphal East district with relevant documents to collect urea. But they were later told that no arrangements to distribute urea had been made, which irked them.
A group of farmers vandalised the urea godown located at Lamphelpat near Imphal. An angry farmer said Agriculture officials had asked them to collect the urea on Saturday.
�At present, a bag of urea costs Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 which we cannot afford to buy,� said the agitating farmers. On the other hand, the Government has fixed the price of urea at Rs 265 per bag. More than 75 per cent of the total population of Manipur are farmers and they reportedly need around 20,000 metric tonnes of urea annually.
Shortage of urea in the State is due to the failure of the Agriculture Department to stock sufficient fertilisers on a timely basis, a farmer alleged. Officials of the State Agriculture Department could not be contacted for their comments till the filing of the report.
