Recently, the former Union Minister and Senior Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh has accused the BJP-led government in Manipur of diverting urea supply meant for farmers to opium fields, thereby boosting the poppy cultivation.
The senior Congress leader said that while Manipur is getting twice the supply it needs, the farmers of the state have been complaining of massive urea shortage.
According to farmers, illegal smuggling of the following to Myanmar has also been escalating as witnessed by the cultivators.
The All India Congress Committee had recently appointed Mr. Ramesh as the poll observer for Manipur.
“Manipur is getting TWICE the supply of urea it needs and yet farmers complain of shortage! Why? Because urea is diverted to hill areas in Manipur, where poppy is being grown for opium in large areas in last 4 years. The State Govt is fully complicit in this,” – the former Union Minister tweeted.
Depending on this, farmers had also launched a stage-in protest, as in hunger strike demanding timely availability of urea.
However it mentioned that “There are 81,189 hectares of paddy fields in Manipur valley areas. There are 88,820 hectares in the hills. About 20,000 hectares of farmland are affected by various developmental projects.”