Arrangements for paddy procurement reviewed

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 16

Rakesh Kumar Verma, Principal Secretary, Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Punjab, convened a meeting with district administration officials to review arrangements for paddy procurement here on Tuesday.

He also discussed measures taken to curb stubble burning at the meeting with officials.

Addressing the officials, Verma said the Agriculture Department had conducted subdivision and village-level camps to create awareness on the issue among the farmers.

He also directed the officials to ensure optimum use of the machinery received on subsidy for straw management.

Sharing the achievements of the district in stubble management, the Deputy Commissioner said the Agriculture Department had organised seven farmer training camps at block level and 1,160 camps at the village level to create awareness among the farmers.

The DC said similarly, the Super SMS system had been installed in 400 combine machines as per the government instructions.

The DC added that last year, paddy was cultivated on 1.50 lakh hectares of land in the while the figure for this year is 1.60 lakh hectares.

DC Praneet said, “The district administration is hopeful that less cases of stubble burning will be reported this year. The Agriculture Department has appointed 290 nodal officers at the village level. These officials are getting help coordinators. Teams have been promoting best practices for straw management.”

Giving information about paddy procurement in the district, the DC said, “Till October 15, 48,138 MT of paddy has arrived at 184 purchase centers. Of this, 39,831 MT has been purchased. Work on lifting the procured paddy is also going on smoothly.”

“From April 1 to October 15, two cases of straw burning have been reported from Bathinda district, whereas in last year, the figure was 57. This has been possible due to a consistent awareness campaign run against straw burning in the district,” he added.

Bathinda SSP Dr Nanak Singh, ADC (G) Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu, Bathinda SDM Amarinder Singh Tiwana, Talwandi Sabo SDM Varinder Singh, Rampura SDM Khushdil Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer Guraditta Singh, DFSC Amanpreet Singh Virk and other officers were also present on the occasion.