Thousands of tonnes of Urea fertiliser imported by Jamuna Fertiliser Factory at Tarakandi of Sharishabari upazila under Jamalpur district are lying under open-sky and being damaged by burning in the sunshine and by being drenched in the fog.
It is alleged, fertiliser dealers are being forced by the authorities of the Fertiliser Factory to receive that damaged and torn-sacked fertiliser. In protest against enforcing the dealers to receive the damaged fertiliser, the dealers of 19 districts observed two-day of strike and abstained to draw fertiliser fromtheir allotment.
Dealers concerned informed each listed dealers of BCIC are allocated 12 metric tonnes of fertiliser in a truck. Of the 12 tons, 11 mt. are produced at the Factory while one mt. is imported. Dealers are forced to draw the damaged one tonne of imported fertiliser.
Due to keeping the imported fertiliser under the open sky for a long time, the fertiliser has been damaged in sunshine and fog and most of the sacks have been torn. As a result, the effectiveness of fertiliser has been lost.
In protest against such forced acceptance of the damaged fertiliser, dealers staged a day-long agitation in front of the main gate of the factory on Sunday.
Ashraful Alam Manik, General Secretary of Tarakandi Truck and Tank Lorry Owners Association informed, imported fertiliser is damaged and unfit for selling. As a result, the dealers are incurring a loss of Taka 12,000 in each truckload of fertiliser.
In protest against such forced selling of imported fertiliser, dealers of 19 districts suspended drawing of fertiliser from the factory from Saturday morning and staged a day-long demonstration on Sunday. However, they withdrew the programme on Monday as the author ities of the factory assured them to consider their demand.
Wayesur Rahman, Incharge of Sales division of Jamuna Fertiliser Factory informed, 62,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser produced at the factory and 21,000 metric tonnes of imported fertiliser are now stored at the factory.
Each dealer is mandatorily allocated one ton of imported fertiliser among 12 metric tons of allocation. But, the dealers have stopped drawing the fertiliser by terming the imported fertiliser of low-quality.
According to sources, dealers also stopped drawing of fertiliser from the same factory on the same allegations on September-22 last year. Later, they withdraw their decision as the authorities assured them to fulfil their demand.