Ensure sale of standard substances in market: Secretary Horticulture

Srinagar

Secretary Horticulture, Manzoor Ahmad Lone on Saturday stressed on the officials to intervene in making available only quality substances in the market for the use by fruit growers. He was speaking at a meeting to discuss the availability of tree spray oils for the upcoming horticulture season.

Ensure sale of standard substances in market: Secretary Horticulture directs department

The Secretary asked the officials that only those Horticulture Mineral Oils (HMOs) should be allowed to be sold in the market that complies with the standards set by the Central Insecticide Board (CIB). He said that a committee of experts would be constituted soon to look into the issues of certification and compliance of rules by the manufacturers of these oils.

The Secretary directed the officials to adhere to the existing practice of asking for Residual Analysis Reports and Bio-efficiency tests for allowing companies to do the business of these petroleum-derived oils. He said that a framework would be made after the committee furnishes its recommendations and the government takes a decision regarding it.

Lone also advised the officials to take into consideration the impact of these chemicals on humans, animals and environment while making the recommendations. He directed the enforcement officials of the department to ensure uniformity of rates in the market without compromising on the quality of any of the product.

He said that since horticulture is the backbone of our economy so the quality control mechanism of the department needs to be strengthened further to check the entry of spurious chemicals in the market. He asked for channelling all the chemicals entering the market through any Public Sector Undertaking for its proper monitoring and better management. He asked for establishing laboratories at district level for quick and effective monitoring of fertilizers and pesticides.

The Secretary was informed that last year around 12 petroleum companies were allowed to do the business of these tree spray oils after taking the Residual Reports and Bio-efficiency tests from the agriculture universities .

Those who participated in the meeting included Director Agriculture Kashmir, Aijaz Altaf Andrabi; Director Horticulture Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat; Director Horticulture Jammu, R.K Katoch; Director Research, SKUAST Kashmir, Mohammad Saleem Mir; MD JK Horticulture Produce & Marketing Corporation, J&K, Shafat Sultan; Director Law Enforcement, J&K, Abdul Rahim Samoon and other senior level officers of these departments. Representatives of various oil companies including IOCL, BPCL and HPCL were also present in the meeting.

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