Khammam: Government launches crackdown on spurious seed sellers

Khammam : The district police will launch a crack down on traders of spurious seeds and to protect farmers from suffering huge losses. Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana said that PD Act will be imposed on those who are found selling fake seeds to farmers.

Addressing the coordination meeting with Agriculture and Police department officials in his office, the Commissioner said that special task force teams have been formed to check the trade of spurious seeds in the district.

He informed that the State government has issued several guidelines to clamp down on fake seeds.

The Police Commissioner added that extensive inspections will be carried out at special check posts on the district borders, and task force teams will be constantly in the field at the mandal and division levels prevent sale of spurious seeds.

Old criminals are being monitored and bind overs will also be done. They agreed to use the PD Act if necessary.

Some brokers are greedy traders trap the gullible farmers promising them of providing seeds at cheap prices. However, the government has taken serious measures to arrest such brokers, the commissioner said.

Police and Agriculture departments should be prepared to conduct extensive inspections in the district at the mandal and division level in coordination. He said that since fake seeds can be transported at the mandal center as well as at the rural level, a special surveillance should be set up there, and criminals who were caught selling fake seeds in the past should be kept under surveillance and they should also be bound over.

He warned that PD Act will be invoked if new cases are registered again.

According to government guidelines, attention should be paid to expired seeds, those sold without licence and those who have licence in one area and sell elsewhere. It is advised to be alert in the case of small errors like stock register and bill book maintenance, he said.

Similarly, surveillance has been increased on the district borders to control the smuggling of alcohol. Police are cracking down on illegal trafficking using technology, he informed.

He said that by identifying the areas and routes of smuggling across the state, CC cameras, mobile check posts and strengthening the informer system are preventing the smuggling.

Additional DCP Law & Order Subhash Chandra Bose, Excise Superintendent Nagireddy, ACPs Ganesh, Bhaswareddy, Rahman, Ramanujam, Prasanna Kumar, Venkataswamy, Venkateswara Rao, Agriculture Department officials Kishore Babu participated in the meeting.