Amritsar, September 27
Nearly 10 acres of standing paddy crop of a farmer from Akalgarh village on the Mehta Road was damaged due to accidental spray of chemicals.
The farmer, Balwinder Singh, said he had rented a tractor-operator pump for his fields. He said his paddy crop dried up due to spraying of chemicals.
Farmer leaders from the area, Lakhbir Singh Nizampura of the Kul Hind Kisan Mazdoor Sabha, and others such as Bhupinder Singh Tirathpura and Karnail Singh Nwa Pind, who visited the fields, stated that usually such pumps use a water tank with a capacity of 1,100 litres. Once filled, the tank is capable of covering 10 acres of land.
They stated that it is being assumed that there was chemical-mixed water from the last job, which the operator had performed at a sugarcane farm.
Lakhbir Singh Nizampura said though the mechanisation of the agriculture has made the work easy, at the same time it has given birth to new problems.
“The farmer has suffered a huge loss. It could have been avoided if the tank was properly emptied before the spray was started on the new fields,” he said, adding that the farmers must keep in mind all precautions before getting a spray conducted by tractor-operated pumps.
He said the farmers should also keep the bills of the chemicals purchased by them so that in case of any problem, these could be used as evidence.
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