The case is still also under consideration at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Then parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had instructed the government to recover compensation by blacklisting the Indian supplier.[break]
The Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) instructed the AIC on Thursday to initiate the process for procurement of fertilizers from IPL after consultation with the prime minister, chief secretary Madhav Ghimire and PAC officials a couple of days ago.
Following instruction from PAC and registration of a complaint at CIAA against the Indian firm, the process of procuring additional 30,000 tons of DAP was stalled for the last three months.
Out of the total 630,000 sacks (each sack contain 50kg of fertilizer) imported from IPL earlier, 430,000 sacks were found to be underweight by 2 to 10 kg sparking protests from farmers demanding compensation.
“We see no legal ground to take action against IPL as it has conceded its mistake and committed to pay compensation of Rs 90 million against the loss,” Shashi Raj Tuladhar, managing director of AIC told Republica.
Tuladhar also said AIC asked IPL top officials on Thursday to immediately initiate the process for supplying 30,000 tons of DAP to Nepal. “IPL officials will soon send us a contract agreement to supply DAP,” said Tuladhar.
The AIC also sent a letter to PAC office on Thursday informing that process for procuring fertilizers from IPL would be initiated.
“I have told AIC officials to use their discretion on whether to procure the fertilizers from the same company as the PAC is now defunct,” said PAC secretary Som Bahadur Thapa. Thapa, however, claimed that PAC had only directed the government to blacklist the IPL and never directed to not procure the fertilizers from the supplier.
The government was planning to buy 12,500 tons of urea and 30,000 tons of DAP from Mineral and Mine Trading Company (MMTC) and IPL respectively committed by India under Import Parity Price.
The government has already dispatched payment for the imports of 12,500 tons of urea from MMTC. However, the company has failed to make timely delivery of fertilizers as the Indian government has yet to renew its operating license.
Amid slim chances of procuring fertilizers from IPL, the MOAD had requested Indian government last week couple of days back to make supply of 30,000 tons of DAP through MMTC. In response, Indian embassy had asked the government to buy fertilizers from IPL.
Prolonging the process of procurement due to confusion over suppliers has made hundreds of thousands of farmers to suffer acute shortage of fertilizers. AIC has a stock of hardly 8,000 tons of urea which is negligible compared to 150,000 tons of chemical fertilizers required for the season.
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