Hyderabad: Surveillance maintained on shops selling seed to farmers has facilitated State and district-level task force teams to crack the whip on spurious seed dealers during Vaanakalam (kharif season).
Much before farmers started their activity for Vaanakalam, the State government took a decision to control the menace of sale of sub-standard quality seed. Subsequently, a meeting chaired by Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy was held at the police headquarters here to discuss the strategy to be adopted to deal with those selling spurious seeds with an iron hand.
Task force teams constituted at the State and district levels with officials from the police and agriculture departments launched a crackdown on dealers. As a result, as many as 157 cases were booked against dealers since January this year and 938 quintals of sub-standard quality seeds seized so far.
The teams booked 20 cases including five each in Jogulamba-Gadwal and Adilabad districts and four in Kumram Bheem district on Wednesday during surprise checks carried out at seed shops. Proposals to invoke Preventive Detention (PD) Act against four seeds dealers were forwarded to the Nagarkurnool district for perusal.
“We have so far invoked PD Act against 28 dealers across the State along with relevant provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC),” a police official told Telangana Today, adding that instructions were issued to invoke PD Act against repeat offenders in other districts.
According to officials, the task force teams are identifying spurious seeds based on the date of packing, details of germination of seeds, type of soil and the season the seeds are supposed to be used should be mentioned on the boxes.
At the same time, the manufacturers must obtain permission from the government to sell seeds. “If seed boxes fail to have these details, we will seize them,” the official said. During the joint surprise checks, the teams found that many dealers were selling substandard quality seeds mostly pertaining to cotton and chilly crops, officials said.
Unlicensed chilli seeds worth Rs 27.18 lakh seized
Kothagudem: Police and agriculture officials seized unlicensed chilli seeds worth Rs 27.18 lakh stored at a seed shop in Sujatha Nagar on Friday.
Speaking to mediapersons at Sujatha Nagar police station, ASP B Rohit Raju informed that the chilli seeds were stocked at Srinivasa Traders in Nayakulagudem village.
Chilli seeds manufactured by Suma Seeds, Golden Valley Seeds, Rishi Seeds and others were seized. A case was registered against trader P Srinivas in connection with the case, he added.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt, who held a video-conference with police officials in the district on Friday, directed them to book criminal cases against those selling spurious and unlicensed seeds.
He also directed the police officials to gather the data related to those who were arrested in fake seed selling cases in the past. The SP appealed to the farmers who suffered financial loss due to spurious seeds to alert the police on WhatsApp number: 8978072286.
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