Punjab government will bring a law to prevent sale of duplicate pesticides, seeds: Dhaliwal

Agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that it will be mandatory for the shopkeepers to issue a bill on purchase to the farmers and if anyone is found violating, strict action will be taken

The Punjab government will bring a law to prevent the sale of duplicate and substandard pesticides, fertilisers and seeds to save agriculture and stop malpractices, said agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday.

The Punjab government will bring a law to prevent the sale of duplicate and substandard pesticides, fertilisers and seeds to save agriculture and stop malpractices, said agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday. (Twitter)

He said that it will be mandatory for the shopkeepers to issue a bill on purchase to the farmers and if anyone is found violating, strict action will be taken. He also warned that if any officer is found involved in any malpractices, they will not be spared.

The minister, who was addressing the representatives of pesticide manufacturers, lashed out at the previous governments for allowing the sale of fake pesticides, fertilisers and seeds in the state.

A state-of-the-art lab will be established in Jalandhar for testing of pesticides, fertilisers and seeds and the existing three labs will be modernised, he said.

The government also plans to introduce a trace and tracking system for complete monitoring of pesticides, fertilisers and seeds from production to the farmer. For this, a bar code and e-fingerprinting system will be introduced, he added.