Pesticide scam: Agri officials swoop on Dera Bassi unit

Kulwinder Sandhu

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Tribune News Service

Moga, April 15

An 11-member team of the Punjab Agriculture Department swooped on the premises of Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited at Dera Bassi in Mohali district on Monday to collect the samples of pesticides being manufactured by the company and also check all the records related to pesticides being manufactured for Bayer Crop Science Limited, a multinational giant.

It was in the wake of a news report, “Punjab smells fake pesticide sale scam”, published in The Tribune on April 9. The Tribune highlighted that a sample of the pesticide “FAME”, manufactured by Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited and marketed by Bayer Crop Science Limited, had failed the quality tests.

The Moga police had already registered an FIR under Section 420 of the IPC and Sections 3K-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 13, read with rule 10(4), 17, 18, 29, 33 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 and Sections 19 and 20 of the Insecticides Rules, 1971, at the Dharamkot police station in the district.

Director of the state Agriculture Department Dr Swattantar Kumar Aery said he had sent two joint-director-level officers, one deputy director and a few other senior officials of the department to check the premises of Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited and its other factories.

“Our teams are still on the premises of the Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited and they are looking into all the records pertaining to the manufacturing and marketing of pesticides. The details of checking are still awaited,” he said.

Till the filing of the news report, the team was still on the premises of the Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited at Dera Bassi. On Tuesday, the team is likely to check the premises of Punjab Pesticides at Kharar and at Daun Majra village in Mohali district. These factories are also sister concerns of Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited, said an official of the Agriculture Department.

Sample had failed quality tests

The raid was in the wake of a news report, “Punjab smells fake pesticide sale scam”, published in The Tribune on April 9. The Tribune highlighted that a sample of the pesticide “FAME”, manufactured by Saraswati Agro Chemicals India Private Limited and marketed by Bayer Crop Science Limited, had failed the quality tests.