To save agriculture, and stop malpractices, the Punjab Government will soon bring a law to prevent the sale of duplicate and substandard pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds.
Announcing this, the state Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that it will be mandatory for the shopkeepers to issue a bill on purchase to the farmers. “If anyone is found violating, strict action will be taken,” he said.
Also warning the officers of the department, Dhaliwal said that if any officer is found involved in any malpractices, they will not be spared.
To save Punjab’s future generations, it is most important to save the state’s agriculture, said Dhaliwal while addressing the representatives of pesticide manufacturers.
Dhaliwal lashed out at the previous governments for allowing the sale of fake and non-standard pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds in the state, saying that due to their negligence, there has been a major decline in the quality of agricultural products of Punjab.
“The Government will not allow the sale of duplicate and sub standard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds at any cost; many tough decisions will be taken in the coming days to stop such ill practices,” he said.
Dhaliwal also added that a state-of-the-art lab will be established in Jalandhar for testing of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds and the earlier three labs will be modernized.
The state’s Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture) Sarvjit Singh said that a trace and tracking system will be introduced in Punjab for complete monitoring of pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds from production to the farmer. “For this, a bar code and e-fingerprinting system will be introduced. Research is being done on these systems and will be implemented after full inspections,” he said.
In the end, the Minister called for the quality improvement of Punjab’s agriculture products to make them best in the world for which he sought the cooperation of pesticide manufacturing companies, saying that this can only be possible with the joint efforts of all.
He also said that the Government will encourage those who do quality work honestly and strict action will be taken against those involved in wrong practices.