Jaipur, Sept. 29 -- Agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena has, once again, launched a crackdown on spurious seed and vegetable sellers last week in northern Rajasthan, seizing nearly a dozen factories and farms involved in the illegal trade. "At least 10 farmhouses and three factories were sealed in the last one week after I started a sudden inspection in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. They have failed to produce any record of their supply, production, and export details of seeds and vegetables in the market. Prima facie, they all have bought expired seeds and vegetables from local mandis, coloured them, and sold again to the farmers at a double to quadruple price," said the minister during inspection at one of those factories in Hanumangarh. Giving details of the seized products from all these farmhouses and factories, which has already crossed about 70,000 quintals, Meena added: "In one factory, we have found several wheat seeds packets which were labelled to be sourced from Tamil Nadu but instead all sourced from the local market. They could not show any record of their imports. They also added chemical to the mustard seeds to make them look fresh when they were old. We have suspended their trading license." During the inspection, the minister and his team checked the farm registration certificates, genetic source documents of the crops, production record, bills of seeds supplied from the markets and sold in the markets which have largely been found missing in those factories, said Meena. This development also came months after he conducted a similar drive in June in the southern districts- Ajmer, Kishangarh and Beawar.At least 32 factories across three districts were found producing spurious fertilisers during the previous drive, said officials, adding that a first information report was also lodged against those companies. An official list released by the minister's office revealed that most of these factories are based in Ajmer and produce Phosphate Rich Organic Manure (PROM) fertiliser. A total of 17 companies were spotted in Ajmer- of which 8 produce PROM, 6 Potash derived from molasses, 2 biofertiliser, and 1 vermicompost. Another 13 factories were spotted in Kishangarh - of which 7 produce PROM, 3 vermicompost, 2 biofertiliser, and 1 Potash derived from molasses. Meanwhile, 2 more factories were also spotted in Beawar- of which 1 each produces PROM and vermicompost. An official member of the agricuture minister's inspection team, said, "They had been mixing marble and granite powder in these fertilisers to keep the production cost cheaper and also have the benefit make them look like the real fertiliser."...