RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh Seed and Agriculture Development Corporation has allegedly lagged to swiftly act on “unfair practice” allowing the distribution of “misbranded and tampered insecticides” in huge quantity for the farmers.
In a Baloda Bazar district, a fertiliser inspector Akhilesh Dubey while examining the samples supplied by the private firm ‘Satyam Biotech’ was shocked to find the dates of packaging, expiry and batch number on labels of the products were allegedly tampered and altered with the newer dates and figures.
Director Agriculture M S Kerketta said the distribution of the supplied products have been stopped. “We have sent the insecticide samples to Faridabad for analysis. After getting results from there, we will initiate the legal proceeding. Luckily, we found it in time, otherwise, it would have led to serious problem and consequences,” Kerketta stated.
“The moment the unscrupulous supplies came to light, we seized the products. It’s a clear violation of various sections of The Insecticides Act 1968. Distributing it to farmers were discontinued. It’s highly objectionable practice and absolutely detrimental to enhancing crop production,” stated an official note by deputy director (agriculture) of the district to his higher authorities. The New Indian Express has a copy of the official documents.
The company which produced insecticides -- Azardirachtian, Imidachlorprid and Hexaconazole, blamed the nationwide lockdown instead. “The product was prepared amid the lockdown. There is no negligence or ill-intention on our part,” an official from the company said.
“It is believed the given chemicals worth several crores were meant to be supplied in various districts. The farmers remain at the receiving end of such dishonest practice. The use of essential insecticides during farming have to be well-timed without delay,” said the social activist Uchit Sharma.
“First there was an issue over altered dates that turn the effectiveness of insecticides futile. And then the company or the department providing a couple of months late makes the supplied products good for nothing,” asserted Ghanshyam Kumar, a farmer.
The Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana is intended to facilitate farmers to secure the better price of their produce and encourage them to bring diversified areas under cultivation.