Thaindian News

Lucknow, Oct 12 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday detected supply of fake fertilizer in a village of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.

Gandhi, who arrived Monday on a three-day tour of the poverty-ridden Bundelkhand region in southern Uttar Pradesh, was on the last leg of his mission to get a first-hand account of the implementation of centrally funded schemes as well as the fate of the special economic package doled out by the central government towards development of this backward region.

Accompanied by state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and union Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain, who himself hails from Bundelkhand, Rahul was passing through Mohda block of Hamirpur district when he intercepted a tractor-trolly loaded with DAP fertilizer.

“No sooner the trio confronted the driver with certain queries, he soon confessed that the fertilizer was fake,” state Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava told mediapersons here Wednesday.

He said, “Finding himself cornered, the tractor driver ran away from the scene abandoning the vehicle with 150 bags of DAP fertilizer that was handed over to the police.”

Srivastava said, “The fake DAP bags were a testimony to our long standing charge that the UP government was not bothered about the plight of farmers. After all, if farmers were to use fake fertiliser for their paddy crop, it was bound to get ruined and would compel the farmer to fall into a debt trap.”

“At the end of the tour today, our general secretary Rahul Gandhi was convinced that the special Bundelkhand package was not being implemented properly and a large chunk of the funds meant for the well being of farmers was being pilfered by the state agencies.”