No DAP fertiliser shortage, opposition spreading rumours: Nayab Saini

Chandigarh: There is no shortage of DAP fertiliser in Haryana and government is ensuring its availability as per demand, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini informed the state assembly on Thursday, asking the opposition not to spread rumours.

Saini was replying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the governor's address to the House.

Referring to the BJP returning to power in Haryana for a third consecutive term, he said this victory is not ordinary.

"It will script a new chapter for Haryana's development," Saini said during his two-and-a-half-hour reply in the House this evening, as he attacked the opposition Congress, saying 10 years ago, "parchi-kharchi" system prevailed as favouritism and corruption was prevalent under the then dispensation.

"We undertook equitable development. We treated the entire Haryana as our family," the chief minister said as he targeted the Congress over "parivarvad" and regional bias in undertaking development works when they ruled.

"...We will fulfil every promise we have made in our election manifesto. The election manifesto is like the Gita for us," he stated.

Saini also heaped praise on his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar, saying when he was the chief minister of the state he set right the system and the present BJP government was reaping its benefit.

On the stubble burning issue, Saini said this year so far, there has been a 45 per cent decrease in such incidents, with 906 farm fires reported till November 8.

He, however, said the state government has also taken strict action against the nodal officers who did not discharge their responsibilities properly.

"The government has suspended 26 such officers and employees. Show cause notices have been issued to about 250 officers and employees. This is the first time in the state that officers have also been held accountable for pollution," he said.

Saini said the government is providing all necessary support to farmers including providing equipment for stubble management.

He also asked the opposition not to indulge in politics on stubble burning issue.

With the Congress repeatedly attacking the state government over DAP fertiliser issue, Saini said enough stocks are available and that there is no shortage of either DAP or urea in the state.

He accused the opposition of spreading rumours about a DAP shortage for political gain.

The chief minister emphasized that this year the state government has made more DAP available to farmers compared to the previous year, and any additional demand from farmers will be fulfilled in a timely manner.

Saini assured that by November 15, an additional 14,750 metric tonnes of DAP will be received in districts across the state.

He alleged that there was never a year during the tenure of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government when farmers did not face a shortage of fertilizers.

The chief minister said that by November 13 last year, 1.62 lakh metric tonnes of DAP had been consumed. In comparison, 1.77 lakh metric tonnes had been consumed by the same date this year, reflecting an increase in supply.

Lashing out at Congress leaders for claiming that a Jind farmer committed suicide for "failing to get DAP", he said it is sad that some people are trying to give political colour to this incident whereas the farmers' kin had lodged an FIR stating that he was mentally disturbed for many days.

"Therefore, this case (Jind farmer's death) is not related to DAP fertilizer. Instead of feeling sad over the death of the farmer, some people are trying to take political advantage of it," said Saini.

Saini said that the government is procuring 24 crops at the MSP and added so far 51.40 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, out of about 52 lakh metric tonnes which arrived in the mandis, have been procured. The remaining paddy will also be bought by November 15, he said.

He announced that the government will release an amount of Rs 300 crore as bonus to the farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on November 15. Besides, a sum of Rs 550 crore will also be released soon, he said.

He informed the House that on August 16, the government had already released Rs 496.89 crore.

Notably, the government had earlier announced that it would provide a bonus of Rs 2,000 per acre to help farmers alleviate the financial burden due to less rainfall this year.

As the Congress is targeting the ruling BJP stating that according to new data 70 per cent of the population in the state now falls below the poverty line (BPL), Saini said during Congress' time the eligible beneficiaries had to run from pillar to post to get their names included in the BPL list.

He, however, said the BJP government had decided that people's income should be considered as per the one declared by them in Parivar Pehchan Patra (family ID) and an affidavit should be taken from them, on the basis of which many BPL cards have been made.

On the drug menace issue raised by the opposition, Saini said the state government has taken the issue of drug abuse very seriously.

In 2024 so far, properties worth Rs 7.4 crore of 25 drug smugglers have been seized and attached, he said.