7 dealers booked for selling poor quality fertiliser in Sangrur

FIRS LODGED AT FIVE POLICE STATIONS AFTER FERTILISER SAMPLES COLLECTED BY THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT FAILED QUALITY TEST TWICE

SANGRUR: Police on Sunday booked seven dealers on charges of selling substandard fertiliser in five towns of Sangrur district after samples collected by the agriculture department failed the quality test twice.

The police said the agriculture department teams had recently raided several shops in the district and collected samples which were sent to the Analytical Chemical, Fertiliser Testing Laboratory, Ludhiana. Then these were sent for re-analysis to the Fertiliser Control Laboratory, Villupuram (Tamil Nadu).

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said cases were registered against the fertiliser dealers at five police stations in the district.

“Arrest warrants have been issued,” he said. The accused dealers are Malkit Singh of Shiv Pesticides at Cheema Mandi; Deepak Tyagi of Hariyali Kisan Bazar, Sunam; Sher Singh of Ram Fertiliser and Chemicals, Sunam; Pardeep Kumar Singla of Hariyali Kisan Bazar, Dirba, and Sher Singh of Ram Fertilisers and Chemicals, Dirba; Haroon of New Subha Kisan Sewa Centre, Bhudan in Sandaur; Darshan Singh of Darshan Agro Centre, Amargarh; and Mohit Chandra of Mosaic India in Amargarh.

The cases were registered under the Fertiliser Control Order, 1985. No arrest was made till the filing of the report.

The fertilisers being sold were mentioned as potassium nitrate, NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), micronutrient mixture grade 2, zinc sulphate and potassium magnesium sulphate, officials said.