Farmers allowed tilling across fencing along IB from today

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Days ahead of the paddy sowing season, the Border Security Force (BSF) allowed farmers who have tracts of agricultural lands across the fencing along the International Border to cultivate their land, making the latter heave a sigh of relief.

The farmers will be permitted to visit their farms from tomorrow (May 20).

About 32,000 acres of land fall across the fence, spreading across 222 villages in Punjab. Out of these, around 20,000 acres are owned by farmers and the rest belong to the Forest Department and the Central government. The latter government bodies offer the land free of cost to the farmers to till the same so as not to allow thick vegetation to grow there.

Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today visited border villages in the Ajnala sub-division and thanked the BSF officers and jawans, who guarded the border during the recent crisis that hit the country.

After reaching the border post, Shahpur Dhaliwal presented sweets and fruit baskets to the border guards and thanked the security forces on behalf of the Punjab Government.

The Border Area Sangarsh Committee president Rattan Singh Randhawa, welcoming the move of the BSF, said the farmers would be able to sow paddy for which the state government had fixed the date from June 3. He added that delegations of his committee had been meeting the authorities to open the gates of fences across the border for timely paddy sowing.

Jaskaran Singh, a farmer of Rodawala village, welcoming the move of the BSF, said the government had not released the inconvenience allowance to border farmers since 2023. Both Union and state governments jointly release Rs10,000 per acre annually to the farmers who have their lands across the fencing.