Sowing paddy: Farmers lauded for abiding by govt directives

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 20

Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma on Wednesday thanked farmers of the district for abiding by the government directive of supporting the ‘Tandarust Punjab’ Mission for saving ground water.

Deputy Commissioner said Jalandhar had roughly 1.69 hectares of paddy cultivation in the district. Out of this, the district administration had received complaints against only a few farmers who had sown paddy in 14 acres of land in the district. Sharma said the paddy was ploughed by the Agriculture Department for violation of Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009.

The Deputy Commissioner reiterated that the state government’s decision to transplant paddy not before June 20 was meticulously planned to save water, which was the only natural resource the state had, except the fertile soil. He said as water extraction from the ground was more than its recharge, it was the duty of all of us to save this precious natural resource.

Sharma said in such a scenario, the need of the hour was to exercise self- restraint in pumping out water from the ground, for which the deadline of late transplantation of paddy was fixed. He thanked all the farmers who adhered to the guidelines of the state government in this hour of crisis.