The Telugu Desam Party Telangana State unit has demanded that the Government take steps to register cases under the PD Act against dealers found guilty of selling spurious and sub-standard seed to farmers.
TDP-TS working president A. Revanth Reddy alleged that in spite of the huge losses incurred by the farmers due to spurious seeds in Khammam, Nalgonda and other districts, the Government remained indifferent to their plight. This exposed the Government’s failure in reining in the seed dealers who were forming syndicates.
The Government had diluted the State Seed Development Corporation with political motives and this had, in turn, resulted in the rampant sale of spurious seeds to farmers. The Government should therefore take the responsibility for the losses incurred by farmers due to spurious seed as some of them had even committed suicide unable to bear the burden of the loans they had secured from private lenders.
Mr. Revanth Reddy expressed concern that the lopsided policies adopted by the Government had resulted in sharp decline in the net sown area in the State. This was evident from the official figures which pegged the net sown area this year at 41 lakh hectares compared to 49 lakh hectares of 2013-14. While the Government had failed to ensure timely supply of seed to farmers on the one hand, the spurious seed supplied by some dealers had compounded the woes of the ryots, he said.
