Kathmandu. CpN (Maoist Centre) Chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that the government was not serious about the problems of the people.

He accused the government of serious negligence in providing fertilizer to the farmers on time even in the middle of sowing. “The government led by me had allocated Rs 27.97 billion to supply 550,000 tonnes of fertilizers for the current fiscal year. However, fertilizer has not reached the farmers’ fields even after the end of June,” he said.

Disclosing the fact that he has not been able to import more than 200,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer so far, he asked, “Where did the said fertilizers said to have been imported go?”

Prachanda also urged the government to put an end to bias in the distribution of fertilizers on the basis of power and accessibility. He suggested the government to reconsider the issue of not paying dues to sugarcane farmers and reducing the subsidy by half.

Stating that the farmers of Tarai-Madhes are facing crisis due to lack of irrigation and adequate rainfall, he said, “Paddy seedlings are drying up and paddy crops planted are also dying. In such a situation, the agricultural meter has been stopped, the power supply has been cut off. ’

He drew the attention of the government to provide agriculture meters to the farmers immediately, to restore electricity supply, to make proper arrangements for irrigation and to provide immediate relief.