According to a decision of Gaibandha district fertiliser monitoring cell, each dealer gets up to 16 tonnes of urea every alternate day.

The decision was taken to stop black marketing and illegal dispatch of fertiliser from one district to the other and to boarder areas, sources in the monitoring cell said yesterday.

They said there are 100 dealers in Gaibandha and each of them will get 133 tonns of urea for February.

But at farmers level, this correspondent saw a different picture. Every day farmers in large numbers from remote areas in Gaibandha and adjoining districts are seen crowing dealer's shop in the district headquarters for urea. Many of them return disappointed after a long wait in queue, farmers alleged.

"We don't know why the rush of farmer is increasing day by day. I can not satisfy all of them with the stock", said a dealer at Station Road in Gaibandha town yesterday.

Standing in the long queue, farmer Jasimudding from Gideri village in Gaibandha Sadar upazila said, I need three bags of urea. I am to spend three days as the dealer gives only one bag per head each time".

Investigation by this correspondent in last three days revealed that a large number of people from Mithapur in Rangpur district and from certain areas in Kurigram thronged dealers' shops in Gaibandha Sadar for urea.

Some sources claimed that middlemen and a section of retailers have engaged people who stand in queues posing as farmers to collect fertiliser. They sell the lifted urea bags to deficit areas at high prices.

Asked about this, officials said it is difficult to ascertain in queues who is a farmer and who is not. But they admitted that all these are due to short supply in remote areas.

Gaibandha Sader Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) however said he is looking after fair distribution of urea. He said the rationing system has been introduced as per requirement in different areas and dispatch of consignments allotted for one area to another area is not allowed.

Meanwhile, a mobile team during a drive on February 11 seized 105 bags of urea from Gaibandha railway station area while the consignment was being sent to another area illegally. The team also recovered 15 bags from Sunderganj bus stand on Feb-ruary 13.

Additional police have been deployed in different points in the town including railway station area and bus stands, who are checking urea-loaded trucks, sources said.

"We have a sufficient stock of urea to meet the demand for February in the district (Gaibandha)", said Abdul Matin, member secretary of the monitoring cell.

The administration has set up a control room to monitor urea supply. According to sources there, requirement of urea in Gaibandha for February is 13,300 tonnes. Till yesterday, 7,888 tonnes were distributed among dealers. More 7,431 tonnes are there in the stock, they said.

The fertiliser is stockpiled under the sky as warehouses with a totals capacity of 2,000 tonnes are packed, they said.