'Jal da rakha, kal da rakha' mission to give push to DSR
Kapurthala, May 27
In a unique initiative to encourage the farmers to adopt direct sowing of rice (DSR) to save water, the Kapurthala administration has launched a mission named ‘Jal da rakha, kal da rakha’ on Friday from Bamuwal, Lakhan Kalan and Khanpur villages under which 10 progressive farmers were awarded with appreciation letters by Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal at their fields.
Calling the farmers, who adopt DSR as the torch-bearers, the DC exhorted the progressive farming community to come forward to save groundwater, the only natural resource in the state, by making it a social movement.
The mission is based on five components: To honour the farmers, giving them saplings for greenery at their tubewells, respecting and thanking the farmers by students to secure their future and pasting of ‘Jal da rakha’ stickers on tractors etc. While visiting the fields of farmer Kulwant Singh, who adopted DSR on two acres, Sarangal himself pasted the stickers on his tractor besides facilitating 10 farmers at their homes.
The DC also ordered the Agricultural and Farmer Welfare Department to provide the technical guidance for registration on portal so that all eligible farmers to get financial aid of Rs 1,500 per acre for direct sowing. It may be mentioned here that the department has also launched a helpline 88720-26513.
Talking about the other aspects of this mission, the DC said the school students were also to be the part of this to thank the farmers who adopted DSR to save the groundwater for coming generations. Today, the students from Government School, Noorpur Lubana, and Randhir school visited the fields and gave five saplings each to farmers, which included mango also.
Those 10 farmers who have received appreciation letters included Jaswinder Singh, Kulwant Singh, Kewal Singh, Kulwant Singh, Gurbaksh Singh, Sharnagat Singh, Parmjit Singh and Lakhwinder Singh. They all adopted DSR method on 36 acres of land.
