According to Agrochemical Vendors, the department is creating an atmosphere of fear by blaming them.
The Punjab government has instructed the Agriculture Department to completely ban hybrid rice varieties & Pusa 44, Yellow Pusa, Dogar Pusa, No-1, 666, which mature within 145-160 days this year.
In this regard, the government and the Agriculture Department had issued instructions about 15-20 days ago that no shopkeeper should buy or sell the above-mentioned varieties or those varieties not approved by the Agriculture Department.
Following the instructions of the Agriculture Department, the purchase and sale of paddy seeds banned by the government was stopped by all the shopkeepers of Punjab 15-20 days ago. All the shopkeepers withdrew from the purchase and sale of the varieties banned by the department. Apart from this, for the last few days, the officials of the department along with their colleagues have been checking the shopkeepers and doing videography. Due to which the shopkeepers of many districts are angry.
The shopkeepers say that they buy and sell fertilizers, seeds and pesticides as per the instructions of the government and the department. They sell seeds as per the instructions of the department.
The shopkeepers allege that the teams formed in the name of checking the shops are issuing press notes, using words like raid, fake fertilizers, fake seed, raid and media trials are being conducted in such a way that we are doing some illegal business.
The kind of atmosphere that is being created is causing embarrassment to the dealers and their families. The dealers said that action should be taken considering them as a part of the Agriculture Department and the state, if any person is found guilty of violating the instructions of the department, then action should be taken, the dealers should be allowed to work without any fear.
According to the information received, agrochemical vendors of Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar were on strike today and they also submitted memorandums regarding their demands to the concerned authorities.