Yavatmal farmer deaths: Police register case against pesticide retailer for unauthorised sale

Yavatmal (Maharashtra): With several deaths due to pesticide poisoning reported in the district, Yavatmal Police in Maharashtra on Friday registered a case against yet another retailer for selling pesticides without a license. An FIR was registered against the owner of Vaibhav Krishi Kendra shop at Wadki in Ralegaon on Friday, police said. [caption id=“attachment_3961615” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The owner didn’t have the necessary license to sell the pesticides, police said. The case was registered under the Pesticides Act, 1974, on the complaint of the tehsil agriculture officer. With this, the number of cases registered for unauthorised sale of pesticides has reached nine. Meanwhile, five more farmers/farm workers suffering from pesticide poisoning have been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Yavatmal, taking the number of such patients to 26. The death toll in the district on account of poisoning during spraying of pesticides on crops has reached 19. According to the district officials, compensation of Rs 2 lakh each has been paid to the families of 15 deceased farmers. The rest would get the compensation after autopsy reports are received and the causes of death in those cases are ascertained. With a sudden spurt in the number of deaths due to pesticide poisoning in the Vidarbha region, the Maharashtra government had ordered a high-level inquiry earlier this month. According to the inquiry report, wrong mixing of pesticides and lack of protective gear such as hand-gloves and masks while spraying are the main reasons for pesticide poisoning.