‘Advance paddy sowing date’

Amritsar, June 15

With the district witnessing heavy showers on Wednesday night, farmers from the district have urged the government to advance the paddy transplanting date as most of the fields have been flooded with rainwater, which is the foremost requirement for sowing paddy.

As per the schedule announced by the state government earlier, the farmers in the district were allowed to sow paddy only after June 19. After the heavy showers throughout last night, the farmers woke up to water-logged fields.

As per expectations of the Agriculture Department, paddy varieties would be sown on nearly 1.80 lakh hectares of land in the district. While the basmati varieties would be sown a little late, farmers say that it is time to sow parmal varieties.

“Now the fields are waterlogged and they would require very less water for puddling. The fields would become dry again till June 19 and the farmers would have to irrigate them again using canal water or tubewell water,” said Gurnam Singh, a farmer.

The farmers reasoned that in the remaining three districts of the Majha belt Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Tarn Taran they are allowed to sow paddy from Friday (June 16). With the showers coming as a blessing for the farmers in these districts, they have already started preparing their fields and would start paddy transplantation from Friday.

Surjit Singh, another farmer, said, “The objective of the government is to save groundwater and electricity. With the showers helping in irrigating the fields, these objectives have already been fulfilled.” He said though a few farmers would not care even if the dates were postponed or not but most of the law-abiding citizens feel that the decision should be revised in line with the changed circumstances.