The ongoing urea shortage in Telangana has taken a dramatic turn after a video of two female farmers physically clashing in Mahabubabad went viral on Friday, September 5. The altercation occurred outside the Agros Rythu Seva Kendra at Vivekananda Center, where hundreds of farmers had gathered in long queues to purchase fertiliser. In the video, the two women can be seen pulling each other’s hair as the crowd watched, highlighting the rising desperation among farmers struggling to secure enough urea for their crops. For several days now, long lines outside Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have become a common sight across the state, as frustrated farmers wait for hours hoping to obtain limited fertiliser stocks.
The crisis has triggered widespread protests across multiple districts, with incidents of public outrage increasing in frequency. On September 4, farmers in Siddipet demonstrated outside the camp office of Telangana Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, demanding urgent action to resolve the fertiliser shortage. Just days earlier, angry farmers in Gajwel staged a sit-in protest while raising slogans of “CM Down Down,” and in Medak, farmers resorted to placing footwear and stones in a queue as a symbolic protest while waiting for distribution centres to open. Meanwhile, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) intensified political pressure on the government, with senior leaders T Harish Rao and KT Rama Rao joining a demonstration at Hyderabad’s Gunpark, chanting “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Kavalyya Urea” to underline the urgency of the issue.
In response, Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao announced that 49,275 tonnes of urea are being supplied to the state with allocations prioritised for districts facing the most severe shortages. He also confirmed requesting an additional 2.38 lakh tonnes from Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister JP Nadda, supplementing the 1.5 lakh tonnes already approved for September. The minister assured that 21,325 tonnes were expected to reach within two days, followed by another 27,950 tonnes in the first week of September. However, until fresh consignments arrive and distribution improves, the distress on the ground is expected to continue, as farmers remain anxious about losing their crops during the peak agricultural season.
