Even as Punjab struggles to shrug off the tag of a state with the highest use of pesticides in the country,it is faced with another problem that of spurious alternatives of pesticides,weedicides and crop medicines flooding the market. In the past six months,the state department of agriculture has nabbed unlicensed medicines worth Rs 2 crore from Ludhiana alone. While officials refused to divulge the details of the raids,a senior official of the department of agriculture did admit,Spurious pesticides and weedicides have become a major cause for concern. The problem is that these pesticides are manufactured in Delhi and Haryana,both of which are very close to our state. The Haryana Government has of late clamped down on spurious pesticide producers,but the national capital remains a problem still. While Punjab covers 2.5 per cent of land in India,it uses almost 18 per cent of total pesticides in India. Ajmer Singh Lakhowal,president,Bhartiya Kissan Union,who is also the chairman of Punjab Mandi Board,said,We faced a similar situation in the 70s when DAP reaching the state was nothing but mud. A CBI inquiry was held after we raised a question in Parliament. Nearly 2,000 people were booked then. Lakhowal added,The problem persists even now though it is not as widespread. As a farmers union,we conduct raids. But then,we largely depend on information given to us by farmers. Director,Agriculture,Balwinder Singh Sidhu adds,The problem is not too big keeping in mind the fact that foodgrain production in Punjab over the last few years has not suffered. But we constitute flying squads each crop season to keep an eye on the illegal trade. Nearly 4,000 samples of fertilizers and 4,000 samples of medicines are collected randomly from across the state and tested. The problem of unlicensed medicines coming into Punjab certainly exists. The problem is that they do not secure bills while buying medicines and in absence of bills we cannot take action against the traders.
