Telangana Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy today said that many raids for the purpose of busting spurious and fake seed rackets were currently being conducted in the state.
At a video conference which he attended from the Rangareddy Collector's office, the minister instructed the officials of the revenue and agriculture departments as well as the police to coordinate with each other to successfully conduct intensified raids and field-level inspections.
"As a result of the raids we are conducting, the traders and businesses peddling fake seeds are now scared to carry on with their illegal activities. So far, 177 cases have been filed against spurious seed sellers and 276 persons have been arrested. Most of the accused are traders from Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra. Such activities will be uprooted with an iron hand," he said.
Reddy instructed the officials to focus on apprehending those selling spurious seeds of cotton and chilly as it was possible to tamper with cotton seeds easily.
He went on to say, "As the previous Seeds Act (1966) is not equipped to handle such cases, the government will make the necessary amendments to the law so that it can deal with the present situation."
The state's police force has indeed been cracking down on spurious seed rackets recently. On June 10, the Suryapet police had
arrested a six-member gang involved in the sale of spurious seeds. The gang had been cheating Telangana's farmers for some time now.
The police were able to seize spurious and adulterated seeds worth Rs 13.5 crore from the possession of the accused.