Fake seeds seized during raids on cold storage units

Guntur: Agriculture department officials conducted surprise checks at the cold storage units and godowns in Guntur city on Saturday. A team led by Joint Director of Agriculture Vijaya Bharati inspected the cold storage units to find fake seeds.

Taking next Kharif season into consideration, some persons had been dumping fake chilli seeds and fake cotton seeds into Guntur district. It was noticed that the traders had been packing and selling the fake seeds to make a fast buck. The farmers who purchase the fake seeds were not getting yield. They had been incurring losses.

Recently, an agriculture department official seized Rs 63 lakh worth seed packets sent to Guntur city without bills and receipts. On a tip off, the agriculture department officials raided cold storage units to find fake chilli seed stocks.

Joint Director of Agriculture T Vijaya Lakshmi said, “We have seized Rs 5.09 lakh worth chilli seeds and inferior quality chillis used to make chilli powder on Friday. During second day also we conducted surprise check. I will submit the report to the Agriculture Commissioner Hari Jawaharlal and District Collector Kona Sasidhar on Monday.”