ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khu­sro Bakhtyar on Friday said the province of Sindh had become a safe haven for fertiliser hoarders and profiteers.

The minister made these remarks while chairing a meeting to review the urea supply situation in the country. The fertiliser industry also shared the latest position of urea supply through a real time portal which showed inter-provincial distribution anomalies.

The data showed that during rabi season the urea offtake in Punjab was 817,817 tonnes that was 4 per cent less than over rabi 2020 whereas the sales in Sindh had surged 52pc to 360,520 tonnes over the last season.

The meeting was informed that over 100pc increase in urea offtake was witnessed in 10 districts of Sindh including Badin, Hyderabad, Jacob­abad, Khairpur, Larkana, Matiari, Naushahro Feroze, Sukkur and Thatta while Tando Muhammad Khan witnessed 300pc increase in urea sales.

On the other hand surplus urea was supplied to only six districts of Punjab with the highest offtake of 71.45pc over the rabi season 2020.

Appreciating the efforts of the Punjab government to stop urea hoarding, Mr Bak­htyar said that the Sindh government should also take measures to provide the fertiliser at affordable prices for boosting wheat production.

The minister said owing to negligence of the Sindh government to control prices of commodities in the province, especially in Karachi and Hyderabad, the country had witnessed a higher rate of inflation over the past years.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2021