SUKKUR, Aug 3: A huge quantity of spurious pesticides, fertilizer, zinc sulphate, and other chemicals with expired validity have been seized in raids conducted by the agriculture department officials in Jacobabad.
This was stated by Director-General of agriculture department Akram Malik at a press conference in Rohri on Tuesday. He said that the Sindh government was continuously receiving complaints that spurious pesticides and fertilizers were being sold in upper Sindh and tremendous damage had been caused to crops on which the pesticides and fertilizers were applied.
On the complaints, the director-general said, he constituted a team of agriculture experts led by director of Sukkur region Hidayatullah Chhajro. The team raided a factory, a go down and a shop in Jacobabad on Monday and recovered 156 bags of Monomehypho and about 250 bottles of different chemicals to be used for spraying on the crops. The team sealed the factory and shop.
According to Mr Malik, the factories, shops and godowns were run by Din Mohammad Brohi and M. Farooq under the name of the Din Mohammad Brohi and Bismillah traders. He said that the officials tried to arrest the owner of the shop and factory but they escaped. However, he added, two separate FIRs were registered against them.
He claimed that in the raid, a huge quantity of fertilizers of the Engro Chemical was also recovered, which were either substandard or the period of use of which had expired.
The seized material included fake products of the Jaffer Brothers, NICL and Aventis companies, he said and added that it was brought to a laboratory in Rohri where each item was tested and found spurious or substandard.
Besides, he said, the agriculture officials also raided 15 shops in Pano Aqil, Daharki, Ghotki and other parts of Sindh and found that 15 shopkeepers were allegedly involved in selling substandard fertilizers and pesticides.
When he was asked if any action was taken against the officials of agriculture department under whose patronage the illegal business was running, he said that so far no action had been taken against any official and added that an inquiry had been ordered and if it was proved that officials of the department were also involved in the illegal business, they would have to face the punishment.
He complained that agriculture officials often caught those selling fake fertilizer and pesticides and submitted to courts charge-sheets against them but they were either bailed out or ordered to pay a meagre fine.
He said that the relevant law allowed judges to fine them up to Rs1 million and three years' imprisonment but they were imposed meagre fine which encouraged the traders and discouraged the agriculture officials.
