Check use of banned pesticides, court tells government

The Delhi High Court Thursday directed the central and Delhi governments to finalise steps within two months to prevent the rampant use of banned pesticides in vegetables and fruits that poses health threat to people.

The division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Rajiv Shakdhar asked various central and state government authorities to hold meetings and come out with a solution to the problem.

The bench asked the Delhi government’s health secretary and Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB) officials, and senior officials of the union agriculture and health ministries to convene a meeting and submit the report before Feb 23, 2012, the next date of hearing.

The order of the court came after it took suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging rampant use of banned pesticides in vegetables and fruits.

During examination of an NGO’s survey report, it was found that 35 varieties of vegetables and fruits, picked up by it from city markets and tested for pesticide content, were having various intoxicants beyond permissible limits.

The report by NGO Consumer Voice said that the amount of pesticides used by farmers in India was as much as 750 times higher than the European standards.

The court earlier formed a panel of lawyers to get examined the pesticide content in various vegetables samples at laboratories. The panel has so far examined over 10 types of vegetables.