Over 57 metric tonnes of seeds worth ₹77.50 lakh found substandard, seized; action taken as per laws, says Collector at farmers’ grievance redress meeting in Tirunelveli

A total of 57.76 metric tonnes of seeds worth ₹77.50 lakh, which were found to be sub-standard, were seized from dealers in Tirunelveli and action has been taken as per the law, said District Collector K. P. Karthikeyan here on Friday. Presiding over the monthly farmers’ grievance redressal meeting, he said that following complaints of adulteration and others, the seed certification officers and quality control department in the Agriculture department conducted the raids.

A total of 57.76 metric tonnes of seeds worth ₹77.50 lakh, which were found to be sub-standard, were seized from dealers in Tirunelveli and action has been taken as per the law, said District Collector K. P. Karthikeyan here on Friday.

Presiding over the monthly farmers’ grievance redressal meeting, he said that following complaints of adulteration and others, the seed certification officers and quality control department in the Agriculture department conducted the raids.

There are 267 licensed dealers selling different types of seeds in the district. From a total of 1,620 samples sent for laboratory examination till this month, the officials received reports for 1,578 samples in which 39 were found to be sub-standard. Hence, departmental action was initiated against 37 outlets and judicial action was taken against two of the dealers. The officials seized the substandard seeds and prohibited the dealers from selling them.

The Collector warned of stern action against merchants who indulged in adulteration and among other violations. The licence would be terminated and legal action would also be taken, Dr Karthikeyan said and appealed to the dealers to cooperate with the officials by selling only quality seeds to the farmers.

The Collector said that the pisanam crop harvest was on in full-swing in the district. So far, from 52 direct purchase centres established by the TN Civil Supplies Corporation and through the TN Paddy Rice Processing Federation, an NGO company, the officials had procured 11,899 metric tonness and ₹5.69 crore have been paid into the farmers’ bank accounts directly.

The district had a total coverage of 24,409 hectares of paddy and so far 17,500 ha had been harvested. For the A grade quality, the government had fixed ₹2,160 per quintal and ₹2,115 for ordinary grade.

When farmers wanted to know about the lifting of “vandal soil” (alluvial soil) from the tanks for their own farm use, the officials said that a total of 593 tanks in the district had been identified and the farmers can approach the respective Tahsildars in this regard.