Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa chairing a review meeting in Ballari on Monday demanded officers concerned to book those indulging in such malpractice taking note of complaints about chilli seeds being sold to farmers at exorbitant prices in the black market.
Minister K.S. Eshwarappa directed the Ballari district administration to conduct random raids on those agro traders indulging in malpractice and take stringent action against culprits.
“Those who are found guilty of selling seeds to farmers at inflated rates should be booked under relevant laws. The members of the vigilance squad need not be present in this meeting and you should right now conduct raids,” Eshwarappa told the officers concerned and sent the vigilance squad members to take up the task.
Mr Eshwarappa was chairing a meeting convened for reviewing the progress of work under his department in Ballari on Monday.
“We are offering work to the rural population even during the lockdown to ensure that none was left wanting for income. The job scheme implementers have been clearly directed to ensure that the workers will maintain social distancing while carrying out work. Our target for last year was to have 13 crore man-days in the State and we achieved over 15 crore man-days,” Mr Eshwarappa said.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K.R. Nandini told the meeting that Ballari had already created 40.08 lakh man-days against the target of one crore man-days set for 2021-22 to occupy the top position in the State.
