The Punjab government and private companies have geared up to fight the fake Bt cotton seeds racket thriving in the state.

Last year, the state was flooded with spurious Bt cotton seeds and the farmers and original manufacturing companies had suffered major losses.

After using the fake seeds, farmers suffered big crop loss and the main 6 authorised private companies were robbed of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion) business in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.Taking advantage of the situation where the original seeds were scarce in the market, unscrupulous elements sold fake Bt cotton seeds to farmers and made huge profits in 2006.

The spurious seeds were smuggled in from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to the northern states.

Company officials and traders said 75% of estimated 15 lakh (1.5 million) fake Bt cotton seed packets sown in three states were brought from Gujarat and the remaining from other states.

The price of fake Bt cotton seeds fluctuated between Rs 450-1,000 per packet (450 gm) in the previous year.

The unrestrained violations heavily dented the gross sales figures in North India of authorised companies to 5.5 lakh (550,000) packets whereas the market potential stood at over 16 lakh (1.6 million) packets.

Punjab turned out to be the biggest centre for bogus consignments as more than 60% of cotton acreage last year was covered under fake Bt cotton seeds.

Alarmed by this, the Punjab government has decided to deal with violators with a heavy hand.

Authorities have been directed to gear up to tackle the racket and state agencies -- Marked and Punseed -- have been asked to supply the approved Bt cotton seeds.

Meanwhile, the companies have assured adequate supply of Bt cotton hybrids this time.