August 15, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 12, 1429

MUZAFFARGARH, Aug 14: Agriculture officials have allegedly failed to check the sale of substandard pesticides, it is learnt.

Rana Zulfiqar Ahmad of Shehr Sultan told this correspondent that he had bought pesticides from Bahawalpur Chowk, Multan, for the first fumigation of cotton but the drugs did not produce the desired result.

“I went to the shopkeeper but he said he is not responsible for the quality of these pesticides. Now I have sent my complaint to the chief minister.”Another farmer, Rab Nawaz, said he had bought pesticides from Kot Addu Sabzi Mandi for Rs15,500, but the spray disappointed him.

“Later, I contacted my union nazim who said he has no powers for taking action,” Nawaz said.

Anwar Ali, a farmer of Muzaffargarh city, said the government should deploy checking teams and they should send pesticides samples to laboratories.

When contacted, EDO (agriculture) Chaudhry Shahzad told Dawn that a team was checking these dealers, and farmers could contact him for complaints.