SUKKUR, Aug 28: Bandits hijacked three tractor-trolleys loaded with urea fertiliser in the jurisdiction of Bello Mirpur police station near Mirpur Mathelo on Thursday.
Reports said that the tractor-trolleys belonging to dealers, Gian Chand and Afzal, were going to Mirpur Mathelo from Fauji Fertiliser Company when a group of armed bandits stopped them at gunpoint near Al-Nisar petrol pump and drove them away.
They left a tractor-trolley near Kalhoro railway crossing after it broke down and fled with the remaining two, which were later found at Jarwar link road, unloaded. Police said that no one had so far contacted them to lodge a complaint.
In Larkana, a special train carrying 13,000 urea fertiliser bags arrived on Thursday to help overcome urea shortage in the district.
The fertiliser would be sold through dealers at government rate of Rs625 per bag, DCO Abdul Aziz Uqaili told journalists in the presence of representatives of growers and traders.
He said that 30,000 bags of fertiliser had already been provided to paddy growers through sale points and 50,000 more bags would soon arrive by train to meet the shortage.
To a question about sale of spurious fertiliser and pesticides in the district, he said that he had asked the district officer of agriculture to check the menace. If samples taken from different shops were found substandard the owners would be dealt with in accordance with law, he warned.
District Officer of Agriculture Extension Abdul Latif Joyo said that 18 samples of fertiliser and 11 of pesticides had been sent to laboratories for chemical examination.
The growers’ representatives demanded more fertiliser and pesticides in time so that the third phase of spreading urea in rice crop could be completed in time to achieve production target.
They called for checking black-marketing and hoarding of fertiliser. The DCO said that eight sale points had been established in Larkana, Badah, Naudero and Ratodero.
In Khairpur, a large number of growers staged a sit-in on the National Highway near Panj Hatti on Thursday to protest against the shortage of urea fertiliser.
The growers from Goondrirro, Shadi Shaheed and other villages came to the city to purchase urea fertiliser but failed to get it.
The frustrated farmers staged a sit-in for more than an hour which resulted in suspension of vehicular traffic.
Sanaullah, Sikandar and other growers told journalists that fertiliser was being sold at the rate of Rs1,000 to Rs1,100 per bag in black-market whereas dealers had hoarded huge stocks of fertiliser creating its artificial shortage.
They said they were facing hardships because the main crops of the season, including cotton, paddy and sugarcane, were at crucial stage where these crops needed water and fertiliser.