Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to clear the subsidy dues to fertiliser companies as delayed payment could affect production and supplies.

The Government’s outstanding subsidy dues towards the fertiliser industry are estimated at Rs 40,000 crore for the current fiscal and this has created a liquidity crisis for the manufacturing firms.

“I have brought this (dues issue) to the notice of those at the highest level as it is important. The outstanding amount which we are supposed to pay to the industry is also quite large and if suppose something goes wrong, it might affect farmers,” Pawar told reporters on sidelines of the annual seminar of Fertiliser Association of India.

The Agriculture Minister said he had written to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister about two weeks ago.

Addressing the association conference, Pawar said that fertiliser security was a pre-requisite for the country’s food security. Production of urea has been stagnant for almost a decade while consumption has increased, thereby increasing our import dependency.

“While India fully met its domestic requirement of urea from indigenous sources in 2002-03, today it meets around 25 per cent of urea requirement through imports. Our import dependence may increase further with growing consumption,” he said.

Pawar asked the industry to ensure timely availability of quality fertiliser at reasonable prices to farmers.

He also told the industry not to approach farmers as mere customers, but also provide them with knowledge and value-added services.

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