Hyderabad: Telangana could well see a ban on the sale and use of the herbicide paraquat, with the Telangana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Commission saying that that was the only way to put an end to the danger to life the agrochemical posed.
Commission chairman and senior Congress leader M. Kodanda Reddy said though the agriculture department had issued an advisory that paraquat could be sold only on prescriptions issued to farmers by agriculture officials, this measure would be of little use.
Kodanda Reddy told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday that the commission had asked doctors organisations, including the Indian Medical Association, to provide it with information on paraquat poisoning and deaths in the state. “Once we get those reports, the commission will discuss again and the plan is to submit our report to the Chief Minister, the legislative affairs minister, and the Speaker of the Assembly urging them to hold a discussion in the legislature on this subject,” he said.
Kodanda Reddy said the commission was apolitical, and its mission was farmer welfare, well-being, and agriculture related issues. “It is clear that paraquat is a dangerous chemical, people are dying because of it. We are sincere on this issue and cannot allow innocent farmers to lose their lives because of this deadly chemical which is banned in the countries that manufacture it but they sell it in India earning crores of rupees. The manufacturers do not care about lives, but only their business,” he said.
He said the commission was gratified that there is consent among political parties that paraquat must be banned, a decision that is supported by the medical community.
It may be recalled that the Indian Medical Association, at a recent all-party meeting on paraquat, had said that around 200 people lose their lives to poisoning from attempted suicides each year in the state. The IMA had said that almost all such cases are where people consume left-over paraquat during momentary bouts of anger or frustration and attempt to take their lives. There is no data available on accidental exposure to paraquat and its impact on health of farmers.
If Telangana banned paraquat, it would become only the third state in India to do so, after Odisha and Kerala. However, the ban was later lifted in Kerala following orders from that state’s High Court while in Odisha, the state government which imposed the ban in 2023 for a period of six months, and had been extending the temporary ban as a full and permanent ban requires a decision from the Centre.
Kodanda Reddy said the commission also planned to write to the Union agriculture minister on the danger of paraquat and seek a nationwide ban on the herbicide.
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