Don’t defy govt orders on paddy sowing, urge farmer leaders

Amritsar, June 11

Leaders of farmers’ unions have appealed to the farmers to abide by the government instructions regarding the manual transplantation of paddy and not to start it early. As per the government instructions, farmers in Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts are allowed to start paddy transplantation after June 16 and in Amritsar after June 19.

However, amid reports that some farmers have already started paddy transplantation as these areas had received good showers recently, farmers’ leaders have asked them not to flout the guidelines.

The leaders are also concerned that in some areas farmers are falsely claiming that they have been asked by unions to start paddy transplantation early. They stated that in case of a confrontation with government officials if they took any action against a farmer, the unions would not interfere or support the farmer.

In many villages of the area, the union leaders are also asking farmers not to start paddy transplantation early. Even social media messages and announcements from public address systems have been made at the behest of the farmer leaders asking farmers to not start transplantation.

The government had earlier announced the schedule for paddy transplantation in order to conserve groundwater.