DW BUREAU /CHANDIGARH Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said here today that in order to save agriculture, and stop malpractices, the Punjab government will bring a law to prevent the sale of duplicate and substandard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds. It will be mandatory for the shopkeepers to issue a bill on purchase to the farmers and if anyone is found violating, strict action will be taken. The Agriculture Minister also warned the officers of the department and said that if any officer is found involved in any malpractices, then they will not be spared. To save future generations of Punjab, it is most important to save the agriculture of the state. Addressing the representatives of pesticide manufacturers, the Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal lashed out at the previous governments for allowing the sale of fake and non-standard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds in the state and said that due to their negligence, there has been a major decline in the quality of agricultural products of Punjab. He said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not allow the sale of duplicate and sub standard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds at any cost; many tough decisions will be taken in the coming days to stop such ill practices. Sharing important information, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that a state-of-the-art lab will be established in Jalandhar for testing of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds and the earlier three labs will be modernized. On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture Department, Sarvjit Singh said that a trace and tracking system will be introduced in Punjab for complete monitoring of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds from production to the farmer. For this, a bar code and e-fingerprinting system will be introduced. HE said that research is being done on these systems and will be implemented after full inspections. In the end, the minister called for the quality improvement of Punjab's agriculture products to make them best in the world for which he sought the cooperation of pesticide manufacturing companies, saying that this can only be possible with the joint efforts of all. He also said that the government will encourage those who do quality work honestly and strict action will be taken against those involved in wrong practices. (editor@dailyworld.in)