The plant quarantine station at Pantitanki. Picture by Avijit Sarkar

Panitanki (on the Indo-Nepal border), May 18: The Plant Quarantine Station at Panitanki on the Indo-Nepal border is set for a revamp. The quality of functioning at the other plant quarantine stations in Kalimpong will also be improved.

T.A. Usmani, plant protection officer-in-charge of Panitanki and Kalimpong stations in north Bengal, said: “Proposals to improve the quality of inspection at Panitanki station have been sent to the government. We are expecting positive results.”

“The station at Panitanki will have a new building with modern facilities to enable better functioning,” deputy director of the Regional Plant Quarantine Centre P.T. Setty told The Telegraph over phone from Calcutta.

The quarantine stations act as watchdogs checking for pests and insects in myriad agricultural products shipped through the border.

The Panitanki station was set up under the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage in 1987.

Under provisions of the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914, the quarantine centres in north Bengal carry out routine checks on agro-based consignments ferried to and from Nepal.

“We need three more inspectors for our day-to-day work,” said an official at the station, which has to check around 12 to 15 trucks moving either way through the Nepal border.

The station does not have a separate pathological or entomological testing unit. Neither does it have the necessary equipment to carry out chemical analyses of various agro-based products. The station also needs microscopes to verify the presence of bugs in agricultural products.

Explaining the nature of work, a senior official at the station said: “Since we inspect and certify whether agro-based products are free of pests, modern testing equipment are a must. Vegetables like potatoes are known carriers of diseases. Improper testing of agricultural consignments at international checkposts enhances risks of contaminated products flooding markets on either side of the border.”

It is mandatory to obtain specific certificates from the quarantine station before agro-based consignments are exported to Nepal. The certificates are finally routed to similar quarantine centres in Nepal. “A proposal, to set up a plant quarantine station at Bagdogra airport has been mooted. But we are considering feasibility aspects including the number of cargo planes operating there,” Setty added.