A trader named Nayan Ahammed, 40, has been fined Tk 1 lakh in Chuadanga Sadar upazila for stockpiling and selling fake fertiliser. Sajal Ahmed, assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, imposed the fine on Sunday.

According to the Sadar upazila agriculture office, Nayan Ahammed, owner of M/s Nayan Traders in Dattail village of Kutubpur union, has long been in the fertiliser and pesticide business. He had been accused of selling fake fertiliser and pesticides, which had caused discontent among local farmers.

On Saturday night he brought a large consignment of BADC-branded sacks of TSP fertiliser into the village on several alomsadhu, locally made vehicles run on shallow engines. Instead of keeping it in his shop, he stored it at his home and in the cowshed of a close associate. Some farmers grew suspicious, and one of them called the national emergency service 999 that night.

On receiving the call, police from the Sarojganj outpost led by sub-inspector (SI) Tayefuzzaman raided Nayan Ahammed's home in Dattail, seized 73 sacks of fake fertiliser and took him to the police station. Agriculture extension officials tested the sacks on the spot and confirmed they held fake fertiliser.

Police informed the Sadar upazila administration on Sunday morning. After consulting upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Shamim Bhuiya, Sadar upazila agriculture officer Talha Zubair Masrur and Sajal Ahmed went to Sarojganj, where Sajal Ahmed fined the trader Tk 1 lakh for stockpiling and selling fake fertiliser. Police then released him.

Nayan Ahammed said the fertiliser seized as TSP in BADC sacks was fake, and that he had bought it from Nazmul Haque, a fertiliser trader in the Shailkupa area of Jhenaidah.

Sajal Ahmed said Nayan Ahammed had knowingly been cheating people by selling fake fertiliser. As he admitted it, he was fined Tk 1 lakh under section 41 of the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009.

Talha Zubair Masrur said demand for fertiliser and pesticides has risen in the peak crop season, and farmers are being made aware in case fraudsters use the chance to supply fake products. It was because farmers were alert that the trader could be punished, he said.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.