S.A.S. Nagar- Senior leaders of Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur, Sardar Mehar Singh Thedi and S. Haqiqat Singh Ghadua have demanded that the price of fake fertilizers sold by Markfed through cooperative societies be refunded. In a statement, they said that around September last year, Markfed had sent DAP fertilizers to cooperative societies, which were purchased by farmers according to their needs. During this time, officials of the Agriculture Department had taken samples of DAP fertilizer, which failed the quality test.
They said that Markfed later withdrew the remaining stock from the stores of the societies, but by then farmers had used fertilizers worth lakhs of rupees in the fields for potato, rapeseed or crops of that time.
The crops became weak due to the fake fertilizer, and when the farmers' representatives complained to the Director of Agriculture and competent officials of Markfed, they were told that the supplier company has been blacklisted and the amount of fertilizer sold has been stopped. The officials had assured that this amount will be deposited in the accounts of the farmers, thereby freeing them from the debt of fake fertilizer.
However, despite repeated requests, the price of fake fertilizer was not refunded to the farmers' accounts. They urged that since the Punjab government is making strict laws against fake seeds and other fake agricultural products, Markfed (which is the government's own institution) should refund the money to the farmers' accounts.