Agro-chemical firm Bayer CropScience today said it cannot stop dealers or distributors from selling Oberon insecticide at a price lower than the rate charged from the Punjab government.
The state's Opposition party, Congress, has made charges against the state government buying the insecticide at a much higher rate than the prevailing market price, alleging that there is a "big scam".
The company said that it had guaranteed the Punjab government that it would not supply insecticide to distributors or dealers at lower rate.
The Congress had claimed in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, which concluded yesterday, that Oberon insecticide to control whitefly attack on cotton crop was bought at much higher rate than the prevailing market rate to make money.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar had claimed that as against price of Rs 3,150 per litre in the market, Oberon insecticide was bought at rate of Rs 3,556. 80 per litre by Punjab government.
"As per guidelines of the Competition Commission of India, the company cannot influence the price that a dealer or distributor further sells the product at, which may even be at a lower cost than the Company's invoiced price," company's Vice President (North), Satish Narang told PTI today.
He said there could the possibility that some dealers or distributors might have sold Oberon at a rate lower than the price at which it was supplied to Punjab government.
"We cannot force anyone why he is selling insecticide at a lower rate otherwise we will be charged with cartelisation," he said.
Bayer CropScience, which is a major player in the state in the field of agro-chemicals, had supplied 92,000 litres of Oberon to Punjab government at a rate of Rs 3,556.80 per litre for controlling whitefly.
Narang further said that Oberon was sold to the trade at the same rate from April - August 2015.
After extensive damage reported to cotton crop, Punjab government has withheld the payment of Rs 17 crore, out of Rs 33 crore worth of Oberon insecticide purchased from Bayer.
To a query, Narang said that the company had given an undertaking in an affidavit to Punjab government in the month of June, guaranteeing that Oberon would not be sold to anyone at a rate lower than the price of Rs 3,556.80 per litre.
On the charge of insecticide not being tested in Punjab, Narang said that Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) had recommended Oberon after conducting test on insecticide. "It is also recommended in package and practices of PAU," he said.
Asked whether Oberon was manufactured by another company, Narang said that insecticide's active ingredient is manufactured at the Company's plant in Germany and is imported by Bayer CropScience in India.
"The formulation of the product is done with Bayer CropScience's technology for the Company, exclusively at its authorized toll manufacturer named Saraswati," he said.
The company refuted the charge that it supplied "spurious" insecticide, saying Oberon was effective against whitefly and was even checked by the Punjab government before giving it to growers for use in cotton growing areas.
