Fertiliser maker’s warehouse sealed after spurious stock detected

Huge spurious stock of pesticides and fertiliser was stored without permission, with the warehouse itself being illegal, agriculture department officials said

Ludhiana The district unit of the department of agriculture and farmer welfare raided the warehouse of a fertiliser manufacturer in Jagraon on Monday, and seized large quantities of spurious pesticides and fertilisers. The raid was conducted after persistent complaints from farmers in the area. It was the second such raid over the past ten days, when spurious stock has been detected.

Fertiliser was being made without permission and spurious stock kept in warehouse that has now been sealed, said Ludhiana chief agriculture officer. (HT photo)

“The manufacturer was keeping a huge stock of pesticides that he had not authorised to make. The company owner had not sought licences for the pesticides he was making. He did not even seek the agriculture department’s approval for building the warehouse, where he was storing the pesticides,” said Ludhiana chief agriculture officer Narinder Singh Benipal.

He added that the samples of pesticides had been sent for testing to the laboratory and the warehouse had been seized. The team included Jagraon agriculture officer, Garjesh Bhargav, Dr Jatinder Singh, Dr Raminder Singh, Dr Jaswany Singh and Dr Shab Ahmed.