Agriculture ministry forms fertiliser control room

The Ministry of Agriculture has established a temporary "Fertiliser Management Control Room" to monitor supply chains, track stock levels, and resolve field-level distribution issues across Bangladesh.
The facility will operate out of Room 528 at the ministry's headquarters through 24 September, according to an office order signed by Deputy Secretary Md Maksudul Islam.
A total of 27 three-member teams – each consisting of an officer, an administrative officer, and an office assistant – have been deployed to staff the monitoring hub. 
Operations will run daily in two shifts: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
The control room's primary task is to collect real-time data on fertiliser transportation, regional inventories, and retail sales across districts and upazilas to prevent supply disruptions. 
Overall supervision of the initiative will be handled by the ministry's additional secretary for fertiliser management and inputs.
The order instructed officials to immediately inform the relevant authorities if they receive information about irregularities in fertiliser transportation, artificial shortages, illegal stockpiling, black marketing or overcharging.
If there is a possibility of a fertiliser shortage in any district or upazila, the control room will identify the situation on a priority basis and make necessary recommendations.
The control room will maintain regular communication with field-level officials to obtain updates on the latest situation and inform senior authorities accordingly. 
It will also receive complaints from farmers, fertiliser dealers, transporters and other stakeholders and take prompt action.
In emergencies, the control room will coordinate with district administrations, agricultural officials, fertiliser dealers and other relevant organisations to take necessary measures.
The daily fertiliser situation, complaints received, actions taken and important incidents must be recorded in a register. Based on this information, daily and weekly reports will be prepared and submitted to the designated authorities.
Initiatives will also be taken to address disruptions in fertiliser supply, transportation problems, storage-related complications and irregularities at the dealer level.
The control room has also been instructed to verify fertiliser-related complaints or important information published on social media, in newspapers, on television, through online news outlets and other sources, and inform field-level authorities so that necessary action can be taken.
According to the office order, fertiliser-related information and complaints received by telephone, mobile phone, email and WhatsApp must be properly recorded and followed up with necessary action.
Officials have also been instructed to ensure proper handover of responsibilities during shift changes.
In addition, officials will collect fertiliser-related reports from newspapers, television, online news media and social media and promptly verify the information by contacting the relevant district, upazila and union-level authorities.