NIZAMABAD: Many fertiliser dealers are putting the lives of farmers in peril and posing a threat to ecological balance, by continuing to sell pesticides that were banned in Nizamabad district for the last few months.
The extent of illegal activity was found during raids carried out by Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) department in Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts, recently.
The traders have been selling banned products like Celphos and Phorate 10g in the two districts. While the Centre banned Celphos long ago, the latter was banned last December. These two pesticides are being used to kill rats, bandicoots and pests in agriculture fields. There is a huge demand from the farmers for these pesticides and it is made available in select shops.
Celphos is categorised under restricted use norm for central warehousing godowns and other public undertakings. Under the supervision of experts, it can be used to kill rats and bandicoots, official sources said.
Meanwhile, there are reports of farmers dying while using the banned pesticides, which the traders also sell in large quantities without bills and receipts in Nizamabad and other towns.
District agriculture officer M. Govind said that they had seized Raja Rajeshwara and Ganesh fertilizers shops in Nizamabad for selling banned pesticides, which were stored in unauthorised premises at Kalur village.
“The banned pesticides might have been brought from Maharashtra. Farmers should be aware about banned pesticides and protect themselves. We will conduct regular check and initiate stringent action against traders found guilty”, he said.
Meantime, Vigilance and Enforcement department, working on a tip-off, carried out raids on two fertilizer shops in Nizamabad and found banned pesticides worth Rs 50 lakh recently. They handed over the seized material to I Town police and agriculture officials seized the shops. Stocks, transportation and manufacturing of banned pesticides will be traced during the police investigation.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Nizamabad I Town police station house officer A. Anjaneyulu said that they registered a case under Section 420 of IPC against two fertilizer shops.
All six accused—Satish Kumar, Venkateshwer Rao, Prakash, Chetan Yadav, Pentaiah, Suresh and Chandrasekhar Goud have been arrested, he said.
