Suryapet, a seed racket hub
Highway links give TS town special position; cops form 5 teams to bust racket
Suryapet district is acting as a transit hub for spurious seed sellers. The wellconnected roadway there is helping in the illegal activities. Suryapet police said they seized huge quantities of spurious seeds in recent days and arrested of a dozen persons.
Suryapet district, on the border of the two Telugu states, is directly connected to several districts by road, like Warangal, Khammam, and also the Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. National Highway 65 passes through the district.
“Checking every vehicle on the road is impossible. Taking advantage, spurious seeds sellers are using Suryapet as a transit point and smuggling such seeds to other districts of Telangana and to areas in Andhra Pradesh,” stated the police.
In the first case, on June 8, the police busted two gangs, arrested seven persons and seized around three tonnes of spurious cotton seeds worth `70 lakh. Main accused Veeranjaneyulu is absconding. He is from Karnataka region.
He “manufactures” spurious seeds and smuggle them to Telangana. He is doing this shady business with the help of his brother Ramanjaneyulu from Suryapet, police said.
The “manufacturing” took place at Kushtagi in Koppal district of Karnataka. The accused cultivated BT-II spurious cotton seeds on 20 acres and BT III spurious cotton seeds on 13 acres in Karnataka. After a chemical treatment in the mill, the spurious seeds are processed, packed and then
distributed to different regions in the two Telugu states, police said.
According to farmers, approximately 1kg of cotton seeds is required for one acre of land. If this racket was not busted, the spurious cotton seeds would have been cultivated on some 3,000 acres of land.
Likewise, in the second case, police seized 350kg of chilli seeds. Only 100 gram of chilli seeds is required for cultivation on an acre of land.
As for the second case on June 10, the Suryapet police busted a racket, arrested six persons and seized 350 kg of chilli seeds including date-expired seeds and 480kg of water melon seeds, 110kg of ridge gourd and 50kg of tomato. Spurious seeds worth Rs13 crore have been seized.
Police said main accused M. Venkatashiva Reddy has brought the spurious
seeds from Maharashtra and Karnataka and began selling them in Telangana region. “During the investigations, we raided his godown in Vanasthalipuram and arrested five of his associates along with Reddy.”
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, S.P. Bhaskaran of the district police in Suryapet said, “The seeds seized in the last few days were not meant for Suryapet district. Spurious seed sellers are using Suryapet as a transit point. We have intensified the
surveillance and are taking stringent action.”
“We have formed five special task force teams in coordination with other departments like agriculture and revenue to deal with the spurious seeds racket.”
“We will bring all these cases to their logical end and destroy the entire network. We are investigating the matter. We are also trying to expose the role of local government officials, if any, and their collusion with spurious seeds-sellers,” he said.
● POLICE SAID main accused M. Venkatashiva Reddy has brought the spurious seeds from Maharashtra and Karnataka and began selling them in Telangana region.