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Items filtered by date: Thursday, 02 September 2021
MANIPUR GOVT DIDN'T BLACK MARKET UREA: O. LUKHOI
Agriculture Minister Oinam Lukhoi refutes allegations against Manipur Government of black marketing urea as baseless; Tangkhul Naga Long refutes former union minister Jairam Ramesh’s statement on urea being diverted to hill areas in Manipur for poppy cultivation
Agriculture Minister Oinam Lukhoi has refuted all allegations charged against Manipur Government of black marketing urea as baseless. Speaking to media at his secretariat office in Imphal today, Minister O. Lukhoi termed it unfortunate that some people are blaming the state government without proper knowledge. He said, Sugnu MLA K. Ranjit’s recent remarks about improper distribution of urea came out of sheer lack of knowledge on the matter.
The minister said, MLA K. Ranjit has stated that 8 Thousand 832 urea bags are required for Sugnu Assembly Constituency but as per a survey, the constituency requires more than 9 thousand bags. He said that the Department has already allocated 10 thousand 505 urea bags for Sugnu Constituency through the local MLA, CSO and District Agriculture Officer. He added that the department is carrying out mobile distribution of 300 bags of urea under the supervision of District Agriculture Officer for Sugnu Constituency tomorrow. Hence, a total of 10 thousand 805 bags have been allocated for Sugnu, which is 2 thousand bags of urea more than required.
Minister Oinam Lukhoi maintained that the agriculture department has already provided 65 thousand 100 bags of urea for Thoubal and Kakching Districts out of the required 64 thousand 500. Taking part in the press meet, Agriculture Director Kh. Lalmani said that Manipur has received the same quota of urea as in the previous years. He said, Centre has provided urea for both hills and valley farmers, adding that 26 thousand 100 bags of urea have been already provided for farmers in the hills. The Director also clarified that there is no misuse of urea for poppy cultivation.
Meanwhile, Tangkhul Naga Long, TNL refuted former union minister, Jairam Ramesh’s statement on urea being diverted to hill areas in Manipur for poppy cultivation. The hill based civil body issued a press release today criticising Jairam’s remark as very misleading and far from truth. TNL refuted his assertions stating 'hill people of Ukhrul and Kamjong districts and its areas are not 'lawless people', and such uninvited derogatory remarks may not be passed on us for political mileage and to tarnish the image of the hill people.' It maybe mentioned that the senior INC leader on his twitter post on August 31 accused the BJP-led government in Manipur of diverting urea supply meant for farmers to opium fields, thereby boosting the poppy cultivation.