A van transporting 90 quintals of subsidised groundnut seeds out of Anantapur district to Challakere in Chitradurg district of neighbouring Karnataka was seized by villagers here who alleged that the stock was being shifted without the requisite documents.
Villagers said that the traders who were shifting the groundnut seeds did not have the required invoices or waybills.
The seized stock was handed over to Kalyandurg Agriculture Officer Sravan Kumar.
Mr. Sravan Kumar told The Hindu that by the time the villagers got to know about the ‘illegal’ shifting of groundnut seeds, two out of three vans had already crossed the Andhra Pradesh border. “The villagers could stop only one van with 200 bags of groundnut seeds repacked in white poultry feed bags of 45 kg each,” Mr. Sravan Kumar said.
The traders, identified as Prakash Naik and K. Sumith Kumar, were apprehended and handed over to the local police.
Cases were booked against them under Clause 6A of the Seeds Control Act and the Essential Commodities Act.
Past incidents
The incident comes just a day after subsidised seeds were distributed in Kambadur mandal on Thursday. The last time subsidised seeds were distributed in the area was on June 28. On June 29, 30 bags were confiscated in Kothapalli in Kambadur mandal.
The van was stopped just eight km from the Karnataka border and the fate of the other two vans that crossed into Karnataka was not known. Officials of the Agriculture Department said they were unsure whether they could bring back the stock.
In the past one month, more than 30 tonnes of seeds were confiscated from various places in the district by the Agriculture Department, Vigilance Enforcement Department and police departments.