Imphal, May 21 2009: With the State Government deciding to stick by the 2002 price of Urea which was fixed at Rs 257.45 per bag for whole sale and Rs 260.45 per bag for retail sale, the Agriculture Department has taken up necessary steps to ensure that the whole sellers and retailers adhere to the price fixed by the Government.

Talking to The Sangai Express the Assistant Fertiliser Officer (AFO) of the Agriculture Department said that as per the price fixed in 2002, a bag of Urea in the whole sale market will cost Rs 257.45 while in the retail market the price is fixed at Rs 260.45 per bag.

Taking a tough stand, the officer urged all farmers and the public to notify them if they find any instances of Urea being sold above the stated price.

Steps have also been taken up to check smuggling of Urea to Myanmar, said the AFO and added that the Principal Secretary has asked the DGP to ensure that all the police stations are put on alert to check any instances of Urea smuggling.

The Urea consignments which were impounded while being smuggled to Myanmar last year will be auctioned off, said the AFO further.

For this year, dealers will sell Urea at the rate of Rs 257.45 to the agents in the whole sale rate while the agents will sell the same to the farmers at the rate of Rs 260.45 per bag of Urea, said the AFO adding that necessary steps will be taken up to ensure that all stick to the Government prescribed rates.

The Maximum Retail Price (MRP) for a bag of Urea is Rs 251.20, said the AFO and added that this is inclusive of Rs 160 margin for the dealers and Rs 20 margin for agents.

Dealers on the other hand have to bear with a number of unauthorised taxes.

Though the transportation charge given to the transporters by the Government of India is Rs 104.70 per bag, transporters charge Rs 117.17 per bag from the dealers.

The additional amount of Rs 12.87 per bag of Urea is borne by the dealers.

The State's share of Urea for the Kharif crop this year is 30,000 metric tonnes and out of this order to lift 2000 metric tonnes for April this year has been issued, said the AFO.

Out of this, the State has lifted 1470.5 metric tonnes of Urea from the factory.

For May the Centre has issued the permission to lift 4500 metric tonne of Urea and out of this 3395 metric tonne has been lifted till date.

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