Sylhet Bureau

More than fifty farmers in Sadar Upazila have been victims of fraud over tomato seeds from Kushiyara Seed Farm in Sylhet. This seed fraud has been proven in the investigation of the Upazila administration. In December last year, a meeting was held in the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet regarding this complaint.

Litu, the owner of Kushiyara Seed Farm, admitted before the Deputy Commissioner that 2100 packets of his seeds were adulterated. And he will compensate the farmers. But the affected farmers at the field level have not received any compensation yet. On the contrary, Litu, the owner of Kushiyara Seed Farm, is denying everything to cover up this matter.

On-site inspection showed that, Farmer Ramzan Ali is selling tomatoes at 5 taka per kg next to a field in Pagal village of Hatkhola Union No. 2 of Sadar Upazila. When asked why he is selling them at such a low price, he expressed his anger and said, 'I bought and cultivated Raja variety tomato seeds. But after the harvest, I found out that it is the IPOC variety. This season, the price of this variety of tomato is low. That is why it has to be sold at such a low price. The Kushiara Seed Company has forged tomato seeds. They have written Mangal Raja on the packet and put IPOC seeds inside. Now the loss is all mine.

Like Ramzan Ali, more than a hundred farmers from Noargao, Fakirergao, Dukhari, Umairgao, Pagail, Kalaruka, Nandirgao, Baburagao, Dighirpar, Baghjur, Rayergao, Noapara villages of Hatkhola Union No. 2 of Sadar Upazila of Sylhet have been cheated by the Kushiara Seed Company.

Talking to several of the affected farmers, it was learned that about four months ago, they purchased Mangal Raja tomato seeds from the Kushiara Seed Company and cultivated about 250 hectares of land. When the Kushiyara company gave them seeds called Raja variety tomatoes, they cultivated them and saw that the yield was IPOK variety tomatoes. About 100 farmers produced IPOK variety tomatoes instead of Raja variety on 50 hectares of land. Due to this, these farmers were deprived of the yield of the original Raja variety tomatoes. As a result, each of them suffered a loss of more than 1 lakh 50 thousand taka per bigha.

In this regard, the victim farmer Khizir Uddin said, we are poor small farmers. I take seeds and grow seedlings and sell them at the farmer level. Most of the people in the area buy seedlings for the rest. They sell the crops and give money. But this time, no one is giving me money because of Kushiyara Seed Company. Because the tomato seedlings I gave did not yield. Farmers cultivate Raja variety tomatoes in the hope of a small profit this winter season. But due to this seed fraud by Kushiyara Seed Company, farmers at the field level including me have faced financial losses.

We did not get any solution after talking to Litu, the owner of the Kushiyara seed nursery, and filed a written complaint with the UNO. When we met with the District Administrator regarding this complaint, Litu, the owner of the Kushiyara seed nursery, admitted that 2100 packets of his seeds were adulterated. And he will pay compensation. We have not been informed yet about the compensation for the loss.

The affected farmer Md. Ajmal Ali said, I have cultivated tomatoes on 90 percent of my land. The Kushiyara seed nursery gave IPC tomato seeds in packets as Raja tomato seeds. Now this entire season is my loss. The money spent on cultivating these tomatoes has not been recovered. We have heard that the affected farmers will be given free seeds next year. But how will the compensation be given with seeds? The total cost of cultivating our land per person is 50 thousand taka. If the yield of Raja tomato was about one to two lakh taka, we could have sold tomatoes worth about one to two lakh taka. Now how will this loss of lakh taka be compensated with a packet of seeds of 650 taka? Litu is belittling us by considering us small farmers.

Shamsul, a retailer in Shiber Bazar area who sells seeds at the farmer level, said, "All those who bought tomato seeds from my shop and cultivated them and were cheated, came to my shop after the harvest and expressed their anger. I have informed Litu, the owner of the Kushiyara Seed Store, about this.

Stating that the allegations of seed fraud at the Kushiyara Seed Store have been proven, Sylhet Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Apurba Lal Sarkar said, "Farmers complained to us about this tomato seed fraud. After that, we inspected the field level and found the truth of the complaint."

In this regard, Faizul Islam Litu, the owner of the Kushiyara seed store, said, I am not aware of the matter, but he admitted that he is the owner of the Kushiyara seed store.

Stone, sand quarries open across country after 7 years, joy procession in Sylhet

For a long time, workers have been demanding the opening of the quarries in Sylhet. According to them, the strong foundation of the local economy is stone quarries. It is important to provide an opportunity to extract stones from those quarries in an environmentally friendly manner. Finally, the quarries are going to open after a long seven years.

On Monday, a notification signed by Sabrina Afrin Mustafa, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, cancelled the previous order.

The notification said that in view of the above issues and the aforementioned letters, it is hereby informed that this department has issued a notification dated February 18, 2020, 28.00.0000.028.31 regarding the lease activities of gazetted quarries across the country. In Memorandum No. 004.18.12 (Part-1)-19, the decision taken to “lease all other quarries including gazetted stone quarries, silica sand quarries, noori stone, white soil extraction and so on, will remain closed for the time being” is hereby cancelled by order. With this, there is no longer any obstacle to extracting stone, sand, and white soil from all the stone and sand quarries that have been closed across the country, including Sylhet.

It is learned that stone extraction has been closed since 2018. Due to the long-term standstill, quarry-dependent businesses are facing huge financial losses. Businessmen have become bankrupt. Workers have become unemployed.

Businessmen have repeatedly claimed that due to the closure of quarries and non-extraction of stones for several years, stones are piled up at the entrance of the river. This is obstructing the normal flow of water and changing the course of the river. On the other hand, in the changing situation of the country, stone looting continues.

Due to this, the government is also being deprived of a huge amount of revenue. Besides, about 1 million workers have become unemployed due to the closure of the quarries. Stone and transport traders, shovel, barki, transport and loading and unloading workers involved in the quarries are living in inhuman conditions. They have been protesting locally on this issue and approaching the administration. Finally, the quarries are opening after a long 7 years.

The rally, chaired by Sylhet Division Transport Owners Association President Maulana Lukman Ahmed and conducted by Pathar Sramik Bachao Andolon convener and journalist Abul Hossain, Sylhet District Truck Owners Association President Arif Ahmed Suhel, General Secretary Zubair Ahmed, Sylhet District Bus Owners Association General Secretary Aminuzzaman Zuhair, Vice President Abdus Sattar Mamun, Organizing Secretary Abdur Rakib, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Sylhet General Secretary Ziaul Kabir Palash, Vice President Abdul Mannan, Finance Secretary Kamran Ahmed, Bus Owners Association Leader Noman Ahmed, Niaz Ahmed, Jitu Mia, Nazrul Islam, Moyna Mia, Abul Hasnat, Mansur Alam, Sylhet District Truck Pickup Covered Van Workers Union General Secretary Abdul Gafur, Vice President Sharif Ahmed, Joint Secretary Ahmed Ali Swapan, Co-editor Bilal Ahmed, Organizing Secretary Masum Ahmed Laskar, Publicity Secretary Abdus Samad Rahman, Treasurer Julhas Hossain Badal, Members Ali Ahmed, Abdul Jalil, President of South Surma Regional Committee Kausar Ahmed, Vice-Presidents Jumel Ahmed, Jamir Ahmed, Abdus Salam, President of Shahparan Regional Committee Ful Mia, General Secretary Babla Mia, President of Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation Kadamtali Branch Saikatul Hasan Shihab also attended the rally.