Assam: Campaign To Test Excessive Pesticides In Vegetables To Begin From June 5

Assam Government on May 30 informed Gauhati High Court that it would launch a state-wide testing campaign to determine the excessive use of pesticides in vegetables and other farm produces.

The state government informed the high court in an affidavit that 200 testing kits from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) had been brought in for testing purposes.

Throughout the testing process, the government will submit periodic reports that will assist in documenting the quantity of pesticides found in the test samples.

Earlier, the court issued special direction to the petitioners who had exposed the matter. The court further stated that if the petitioners could provide new information regarding the matter, then they will be able to submit complaints to the police.

In April of this year, the Gauhati High Court noted that Assam lacked a system for immediately detecting the presence of pesticides in farm produce and vegetables.

When it made the observation, the high court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) about the use of pesticides in vegetables that end up in the food chain.

While entertaining a PIL in the matter, the Gauhati HC had earlier asked the commissioner of food safety and drugs administration in Assam, Abhijit Baruah to be present during the hearing.

In line with the court’s request, the top health and family welfare department official of Assam was present as the court took the issue up for hearing. Meanwhile, it came to the fore that the Assam government was in talks with BARC to bring in equipments that will help in testing farm produce for presence of pesticides.

This was informed to the Gauhati High Court by the state government. In February this year, the high court had directed the concerned departments to inspect the vegetables before they are imported to Guwahati.
The high court issued a set of guidelines related to use of pesticides in vegetables based on a petition filed by Advocate Seema Bhuyan.

Different offices including horticulture, legal sciences and wellbeing were coordinated to go to sufficient lengths for examining the vegetables that were imported to the city before they entered the market and were offered to residents.
The departments were required by the Gauhati High Court to provide a comprehensive report on this by March 3.

Advocate Seema Bhuyan had claimed in a PIL that the state’s crops and vegetables were excessively contaminated with heavy materials and pesticides that were harmful to human health.
A central taskforce met with the district’s Agriculture Development Officers (ADO) in Goalpara, Assam, the month before to investigate the widespread use of chemicals and pesticides.

They had a conversation with the Coalition for Agri Development (AAI) and Horticultural Designers Affiliation (AEA) at the Region Office’s chamber in the Locale Farming Office, Goalpara.

The group visited the pesticide retail vendors in a few spots including Dhupdhara, Bikali ADO Circle, Tiplai, Rangjuli ADO Circle, Borpathar, Rangjuli ADO Circle, Simlitola Bazar, Matia ADO Circle, Goalpara Town, Agia ADO Circle.

Sr. Rajib Kumar Bhuyan Kamal Das, PO Directorate of Agriculture, Khanapara, Assam; Hitesh Bezbaruah, SDAO Dudhnoi; Bandana Patgiri, Sr., ADO Directorate of Agriculture, Khanapara, Assam During the visit to various fertilizer retail dealers, ADO Goalpara and Bipul Nath, ADO Rangjuli, were in attendance.

At Simlitola bazaar, the team and members of the District Agriculture Office Goalpara held an awareness meeting with dealers and retailers of Matia ADO Circle. Topics discussed included indiscriminate pesticide use and proper pesticide sales documentation. Following that team, farmers in several districts discussed the use of pesticides in their fields.

The Central and state taskforce mutually checked fertilizer shops for indiscriminate utilization of pesticides and chemicals and informed them to sell and utilize pesticides according to Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) standards.