The administration in Satkhira has destroyed 7,000 kg of immature mangoes ripened with chemical spray after drives at separate locations.

The mango-laden trucks were seized on Monday (29 April) in separate drives at Debishahar crossing on the Satkhira-Kaliganj highway and at the Alipur checkpost area.

In Debhata, the drive was led by upazila nirbahi officer Md Asaduzzaman. He said a truck was stopped on a tip-off and 1,000 kg of ripened Gobindabhog mangoes in 50 plastic crates were seized. Raw mangoes on the truck meant for pickles were released, and the seized immature mangoes were destroyed in public.

He said Satkhira's mangoes have a strong reputation, but a dishonest ring was trying to ripen immature mangoes with chemicals and sell them.

In another drive, a mobile court seized 6,000 kg of mangoes at the Alipur checkpost area and destroyed them under vehicle wheels. The drive was carried out at about 5pm on Monday by Atish Sarkar, upazila assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate.

Atish Sarkar said they learned that a truckload of immature mangoes from Debhata, ripened with toxic chemicals, was being sent to Dhaka and other parts of the country. With upazila agriculture officer Monir Hossain and sub-assistant officer Yasir Arafat, he ran the drive at Alipur checkpost and seized 6 tonnes of artificially ripened immature mangoes worth about Tk 4 lakh. The trader fled before they arrived. The mangoes were then crushed under vehicle wheels.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.