Hyderabad: Fertiliser companies, which are supposed to sell fertiliser to farmers through the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, are not doing so because they have not supplied the required number of e-PoS (electronic point of sale) devices to their dealers. The Centre has mandated all states to sell fertiliser to farmers only through e-PoS and it will credit the fertiliser subsidy directly into the bank accounts of farmers to plug leakages in fertiliser subsidy. The state has 7,229 fertiliser retail shops, and e-PoS devices have been supplied to only 3,200.
The state government has threatened to cancel the licences of fertiliser dealers if they fail to set up the devices by January 1. The scheme was to start on Decem-ber 1 but was deferred because of the lack of machines. The Centre has instructed fertiliser companies to supply 2 lakh e-PoS devices across the country to implement DBT from this year. The company will supply the e-PoS device to dealers at its cost and recover the amount on sale of each tonne of fertiliser at the rate of Rs 50. Each device costs Rs Rs 16,000.
Each company was given the responsibility of supplying devices in two districts. In TS, Nalgonda and Khammam districts have more shops while Yadadri and Medchal districts have less. In Nalgonda, there are 580 shops and in Khammam, 444. Yadadri has 110 shops and Medchal district 38. Despite reminders, the companies failed to meet the targets. In Asifabad, Bhupalpally, Nirmal, Mahabubabad, and Warangal rural, distribution is moving at a snail’s pace.
There is some suspicion that fertiliser companies are dragging their feet because if they instal e-PoS devices all transactions will be recorded and there will be no way to fraudulently claim subsidy. Agriculture secretary C. Parthasarathi has been holding a series of meetings with fertiliser companies to expedite the distribution of devices. “We have set a deadline of December 31 for all companies to complete distribution of e-PoS devices. We will cancel the licences of dealers who fail to instal e-PoS devices within the deadline,” he said.
