Police on prowl for spurious seed

Police on prowl for spurious seed
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Spurious seed sellers beware, the cops are on prowl. In a bid to support the farming community from the spurious seed menace, the Warangal Police Commissionerate has geared up to crack the whip against those indulge in the illegal trade by invoking Preventive Detention (PD) Act.

Hanamkonda: Spurious seed sellers beware, the cops are on prowl. In a bid to support the farming community from the spurious seed menace, the Warangal Police Commissionerate has geared up to crack the whip against those indulge in the illegal trade by invoking Preventive Detention (PD) Act.

With the last year’s bitter experience of Warangal and Khammam undivided districts’ farmers, who suffered huge losses due to spurious seed is still afresh, the Warangal police have come forward to do their bit for the farming community.

Thousands of farmers belonging to Mahabubabad and Thorrur region in erstwhile Warangal district sowed seeds purchased from Khammam town, which is well known for its notoriety for spurious seed trade, and suffered crop loss last year.

Against this backdrop, the police booked cases including invoking PD Act against Madanapalle-based Green Era Seed Company, local distributors and others involved in the trade. Then the PD Act was invoked against six persons.

Apart from the measures taken by the agriculture department, Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu has decided to form special teams in each division supervised by the respective ACPs. The special teams have been told to gather the details of all seed, fertiliser and pesticide traders so that they can keep an eye on their activity.

The Commissioner, who convened a special meeting in which agriculture officials and legal experts here on Tuesday discussed about the action plan to curb the spurious seed menace.

“As it’s time for sowing of kharif crops with the onset of southwest monsoon, farmers are the most feared lot these days as it was increasingly becoming difficult for them to identify the difference between the genuine and spurious.

We will take up a campaign to bring about awareness on how to identify the spurious spread, besides advising the farmers to purchase the seed from only reliable and recognised stores,” Sudheer Babu said. He urged the people to give them the tip-off if they have any information about spurious seed or WhatsApp on 9491089257 number.

Speaking to The Hans India, Legal Advisor to Warangal Police Gangireddy Ramanuja Reddy said: “If utmost care is taken in the collection of samples and getting them tested in agriculture department labs, the cases booked against the spurious seed traders don’t fizzle out and they stand to get punishment.”

The PD Act certainly plays a deterrent role as the Commissioner has the power to invoke PD Act which can keep the culprits six months in detention, he said, stressing the importance of coordination between the police and the Agriculture Department.

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