The upazila administration and agriculture department in Birol, Dinajpur, have recovered 1,391 sacks of illegally stockpiled chemical fertiliser. Four fertiliser traders have been fined a total of 102,000 taka and one fertiliser warehouse sealed over the matter.
The upazila administration and agriculture department said Monday that the fertiliser was recovered during raids carried out in various areas of the upazila over the past two days.
Earlier, Sunday evening, upazila executive officer (UNO) and executive magistrate Md Rezaul Islam led a raid at Mahadevpur Machuapara crossing on the Birol-Bochaganj road in Forokkabad union.
During that raid, 782 sacks of fertiliser were recovered from the warehouse of Messrs Shahir Traders, including 446 sacks of TSP, 276 of DAP, 46 of MOP and 14 of urea. The firm’s owner, Md Nasim Iqbal Khokon, was fined 50,000 taka over the illegal fertiliser stockpiling.
A raid was then carried out at the shop of unauthorised retailer Md Alim in the same area, recovering 17 sacks of fertiliser, including seven sacks of TSP, seven of MOP and three of DAP. He was fined 2,000 taka.
Separately, district magistrate’s office executive magistrate Md Monowar Hossain led a raid at Narabari Bazar in ward 4, Shahargram union, recovering 82 sacks of fertiliser from two unregistered storage rooms belonging to Mashiur Rahman, owner of Messrs Nawab Traders. He was fined 10,000 taka.
The same day, a separate raid at Chakkanchan crossing recovered 510 sacks of fertiliser from Md Jahangir Alam, brother of Md Hashem, owner of BCIC dealer Messrs Hashem Traders. A mobile court fined him 40,000 taka.
After the raids, the executive magistrates directed that the recovered fertiliser be sold openly to local farmers at the government-fixed price.
Birol police station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Al Emran, along with local union parishad (UP) secretary and members, were present during the raids.
The upazila administration and agriculture department said market monitoring and raids against illegal stockpiling would continue to protect farmers’ interests and prevent an artificial fertiliser shortage.