Under direction of Chief Minister, Punjab, the Agricultural Task Force is burning their midnight oil to make agricultural in-puts available across the province on its price control. This was stated by Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force), Punjab Rana Ali Arshad while talking to media persons during his visit to Rawalpindi. He further said that Crackdown on counterfeit and substandard pesticides and fertilizer are in progress across the Province.
In this regard, so far as, 29,834 places have been raided and 2727 FIRs have been registered and 1238 people have been arrested. He disclosed that worth of 690 million counterfeit pesticides & fertilizers were seized and 51 factories manufacturing fake fertilizers were sealed. He further said that the mafia selling fake agricultural inputs was being dealt with iron hands and those involved in this heinous business were being punished.
These measures are helpful in providing quality pesticides and fertilizers to the farmers. Additional Secretary (Task Force) Punjab further said that Punjab Agricultural Task Force has introduced a new grievance re-dressal system which is known as “Zero Caste Complaint System” through which farmers can send their grievances via message / video on 0300-2955539 via WhatsApp / SMS at any time and the action is taken within 24 hours.
He said that at present there is no crisis of fertilizers and pesticides in Punjab and the supply of agricultural inputs to the farmers is being ensured. Talking to media about smog control policy, he said that Agricultural Task Force has taken concerted steps in these two years to control smog. In this regard, burning of crop residues was completely banned.
This year, FIRs have been registered against 1,200 people for burning crop residues. At the same time, the Punjab Government has provided a subsidy of Rs. 300 million on rice straw chapper and likewise machinery for disposal of crop residues. Rana Ali Arsahad also chaired a meeting of the Agricultural Task Force Committee in Rawalpindi.
Giving a briefing on the occasion, Sakhi Mohammad, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Pest Warning and Quality Control, said that counterfeit pesticides worth Rs. 124,517 have been seized in Rawalpindi division during the year 2021 FIRs were registered against 23 dealers.
