Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance conducts raids to prevent illegal hoarding and black-marketing of fertilizers.  The state vigilance conducted raided in various palce of Bhubaneswar, Jaleswar,  Baleswar, Boudh, Ganjam, Brahmapur, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Angul, Kendrapada,  Jagatsinghpur, Sambalpur, Koraput and other areas.

The state-wide verification was conducted by Vigilance to prevent illegal hoarding and black-marketing of fertilisers by wholesalers and retailers in order to create an artificial shortage in supply of fertilisers to the farmers during the sowing season.

During the verification at different places under the Bhubaneswar Division such as Nayagarh, Khurda, Gop and Bhubaneswar, shortage of 7,073 bags and excess of 1,271 bags of fertilisers of different varieties were found.

Fertiliser dealers’ godowns in the Jaleswar and Baleswar areas were verified and excess of 385 bags and shortage of 32 bags were detected. Similarly, verification on different fertiliser agencies at Boudh, Ganjam and Brahmapur was undertaken and excess of 70 bags and shortage of 1,041 bags were detected.

The business premises of fertiliser wholesalers and retailers at Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Angul, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur were also verified and 4,547 bags were found short while 167 bags were found excess.