Outdated cotton seeds worth 6.7 L seized in Mahbubnagar

​Mahbubnagar: Cracking a whip on spurious seed sellers and persons stocking illegal seed stocks, the Agriculture and Vigilance and Enforcement departments in the district seized illegal stocks of expired BT-3 cotton seeds from a home in Jadcherla mandal on Thursday. 

According to officials, on a tip off, they raided the house of one Krishna Rao from Srinagar Colony of Jadcherla mandal and seized about 820 packets of seeds worth Rs 6.7 lakh. Later, they also seized loose stocks of 25 kilograms of cotton seeds from another person MC Kodaiah’s house. Though he is a licensed seed seller, he stored additional stocks without the knowledge of Agriculture department, which is illegal. 

“We raided the house of Krishna Rao and seized spurious BT cotton seed packets whose dates have already been expired. We also found that they were also repacking these cotton seeds in new pouches printed with new labels by changing the date of expiry. All the illegal stock has been seized and also confiscated the empty pouches from the culprits,” informed Mallikarjun Chowdary, Vigilance and Enforcement department official, Mahbubnagar. 

The culprits were repacking the expired cotton seeds into two different pouches printed with brand names Sai Versa and Sai Divya. The officials have seized 17 and 14 pouches of both the brands respectively. 

The Agriculture department officials further clarified that anyone who resorts to illegal stocking of spurious seeds and tries to sell it to the gullible farmers will be dealt with strictly and criminal cases will be slapped against them. 

However, the seed sellers should first register with the Agriculture department and should reveal all the details of the quantity, quality and standards of the seeds before selling them in the open market. The seed sellers should also maintain proper register of stocks available and stocks sold out on a day-to-day basis. 

They should also keep records of details of whom they have sold and how much quantity. “Every seed seller has to follow certain guidelines stipulated by the Agriculture department. Particularly with regards to quality standards of the seed stocks and their expiry date the sellers must adhere to government norms. 

If anyone is found indulging in illegal means, they will be taken to task and cases will be booked against them,” Nishant, Agriculture Officer from Jadcherla mandal, said.

The officials have taken the samples of all seized cotton seeds for quality checking and accordingly, the Vigilance officials will book criminal cases against those violating the law.