Rs 20L fertiliser, seeds seized from illegal Lambi godown

The Agriculture Department recently discovered an unauthorised godown at Channu village in the Lambi Assembly segment and seized fertilisers and seeds worth over Rs 20 lakh. Officials suspect that it could be just the tip of the iceberg.

It was later found that the goods were supplied by the firms that were not authorised to do business in the state, said a senior official of the department. “Only the firms registered on the portal of the Agriculture Department are allowed to do business in the state, but the two firms that supplied fertilisers to the dealer at Channu village had not obtained any permission from the government,” he added.

Sukhjinder Singh, Agriculture Development Officer (ADO), said, “We got a tip-off that a pesticide dealer was selling fertilisers and seeds without any licence. During a raid at a godown, fertilisers and seeds worth Rs 20-30 lakh were found stored. We lifted some samples and sent for laboratory testing.”

The ADO added, “Some banned pesticides were also seized. Godown owner Rakesh Kumar evaded GST and issued fake invoices to farmers. He did not even maintain a stock register. He owns a small pesticide shop, but when we checked his purchase invoices, we found that he had purchased a huge stock.”

A case has been registered.