KHAIRPUR, May 9: Following the Sindh chief minister’s directives, the district agriculture department has constituted special teams to check the sale of substandard fertilisers, pesticides and seeds.

The teams comprising magistrates, police and agriculture department officials would raid shops and dealers who were found selling spurious farm inputs.

Agriculture Secretary Sabhago Khan Jatoi told reporters on Thursday evening that a date processing plant and date dryers unit costing Rs200 million would be set up in district Khairpur.

He added that on directives of the chief minister, he had visited the agro-export processing zone in district Khairpur and its work which had been stopped, would restarted soon.

He said that Benazir Bhutto Agricultural Services Centres would be set up in all districts of the province on the basis of public-private partnership which will supply seed, fertilisers and pesticides to the farmers through one-window operations.

He added that restructuring of employees of National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIW) would be made where 922 vacant posts will be filled by July this year.

He added that wrong reports regarding completion and construction of watercourses were submitted last year, however, it would not happen this year.

He said that the chief minister had got summary for regularising the employees of NPIW who had been working on contractual basis.

To a question, he said that some 150 officers of agriculture department who were working under OPS would not be able to work on their posts.

He said that matriculate youth in Sindh would be imparted training of tractor operators and those getting this training will be paid Rs5,000 per month.