Large quantities of fertilizers are smuggled through Nepal to China, where they are used as raw material for making explosives used to blast rocks for laying roads, a top secret intelligence report to the prime minister has revealed.
Farmers are reeling under acute shortage of fertilisers because of this, the report said, estimating the illegal export from ten border districts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to the tune of Rs 1500 crores.
Districts from which fertilizers are smuggled include Motihari, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Pashchin Champaran and Saupal in Bihar and Balrampur, Lakhimpur, Kheri, Rampur, Bahraich and Sravsti in Uttar Pradesh, the 20-page report said.
Urea tops the list of fertilizers smuggled out, followed by DAP and Potash. The report charged the involvement of enforcement authorities of India and Nepal in the racket.
The racket is thriving because of the lucrative double profit on every bag of fertilizer smuggled from the Indo-Nepal borders and sold to China.
Intelligence agencies have identified the local goons operating on the border of Uttar Pradesh individually or in a syndicate, using all modes to illegally carry the fertilizer bags in Nepal where the Chinese are ready to buy it. They use bicycles, bullock carts, rickshaws, small trucks, tractor trolleys to take bags across the Nepal border and at times even engaged labourers to walk across carrying the stuff on their shoulders.
At the instance of the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments had cancelled licences of all fertilizer shops within 10 km from the Nepal border to put the smuggling under check. The intelligence report, however, say the unscrupulous elements are still getting licences up to 5 km from the Indo-Nepal border, with the help of the local authorities.