MULTAN, March 12: The Punjab agriculture department has finally directed the provincial authorities concerned to ensure implementation of the new agricultural pesticides rules announced by the federal government through SRO-21/2004.

The SRO was issued by the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock on January 13, 2004, but the Punjab government took about six weeks to take an appropriate action for the enforcement of the new pesticides rules of business.

The inordinate delay in taking appropriate action on the part of the Punjab agriculture department coupled with some "unfavourable" statements by the senior officials of the provincial directorate of pest warning and quality control of pesticides had given birth to widespread rumours that the Punjab was opposed to the new pesticides rules.

Sources at the agriculture department said the "unrest" among the directorate of PWQCP authorities was somehow natural because under the new pesticides rules the registration of pesticides firms would now be the purview of Minfal's department of plant protection instead of the previous rules when the provincial agriculture departments were used to do the same either through their extension wings or directorates of PWQCP.

The provincial agriculture secretariat has now directed the director general (extension) and director PWQCP to take all necessary measures to start implementing the SRO-21. The SRO is the outcome of the recommendations of the 36th meeting of Minfal's Agricultural Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee (Aptac) held on May 31 last year.

The salient features of Aptac recommendations and their relevant clause numbers were that the importers of pesticides should themselves repacked the products in retail packs under their own label and warranty before passing on to the distributors or dealers; the price mentioned on the label should be the same which the importers had cited while paying the government duties, including general sales tax; the products should be packed in standard retail packing of 250ml, 500ml or 1000ml instead of 450ml and 900ml; and all the pesticides registered be allowed to be sold under trade names.

However, the SRO has no mention of the issues of retail price, standard packing and permission to the sale of products on form- 16 under the trade names. Though, the Minfal authorities claimed that such matters would be resolved through executive orders, but the stakeholders said this would cause ambiguity and consequent misinterpretation of the rules by the vested interests present, both in the ranks of agriculture departments and pesticides business.