the state’s Agriculture and Horticulture Department on Monday seized inorganic vegetables worth Rs 2.5 lakh at the Lall Market, which, officials said, were brought from outside Sikkim.
The state government has banned import of inorganic vegetables from outside the state with effect from 1 April, while the state has witnessed an acute shortage of vegetables and fruits ever since.
Tough the government later eased the restrictions after an uproar and allowed import of chilly, tomato and carrot, traders had said that they would import all vegetables that are in short supply. “Wholesalers of Lall Market went against the government’s ban and brought the vegetables from outside Sikkim,” officials said.
Officials of the Agriculture and Horticulture department made an early morning visit to Lall Market on Monday and seized the vegetables that included Okra, Cabbage and Bottle Gourd, which all fall under the ban list, according to a senior official of the Agriculture Department.
Meanwhile, state Agriculture Minister Somnath Poudyal on Monday visited the market and interacted with vegetable sellers and asked them about the shortage. He also urged the wholesalers to support the government’s organic mission and co-operate.
“The problems in the initial days of the inorganic ban is slowly being solved and things are returning to normal, as the government is bringing to Gangtok organic vegetables from all parts of Sikkim,” Mr Poudyal said. Later, the opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) urged the government to roll back the ban decision and iterated that it was not feasible.