Guwahati: The Assam government has taken action against more than 1,200 urea traders for ‘black-marketing’ and fraudulence.
Atul Bora, minister for Agriculture said actions have been initiated against the urea traders for not following the guidelines for procurement, storage and distribution of the high-demand fertilizer.
Bora said his department is keeping a close watch on the urea traders following allegations that some of them resorted to black marketing and created an artificial shortage in Assam.
The minister said an enquiry was conducted following allegations of black marketing of fraudulence.
Investigations have revealed that some urea traders do not even lift their quota from the government distribution point, while others divert their quota to some other stock yards.
There are reports that large consignments of urea is smuggled to Myanmar from Barak Valley districts in South Assam, and some of the traders are directly involved with the illegal trade.
While in Assam, some traders who hoard urea in huge quantities, try to manipulate the market price, he said.
Bora said licenses of three wholesale urea traders and 1,272 retailers have been suspended following detection of such anomalies in lifting and stocking of the fertilizers in Assam.
The minister said introduction of the mandatory Point of Sale device at the urea traders’ end has led to better monitoring of the situation by the authorities.
