Punjab farmers inundate fields to hide burnt residue

Parvesh Sharma

Sangrur, May 16

At a time when the state government is taking various initiatives to save groundwater and electricity, farmers are running tubewells to inundate their fields to hide traces of farm fires.

A farmer on the outskirts of Sangrur city said, “I have inundated my fields and there is nothing wrong in it. I will again inundate it next month before sowing paddy.”

Another farmer, Gurmeet Singh, said, “I am preparing to sow paddy. I burnt the wheat stubble as there was no other alternative.”

Rajbir Singh, another farmer, said people started preparations to sow paddy ahead of the directions of the state government.

Sangrur Chief Agriculture Officer Harbans Singh said the matter was in their knowledge and they were trying to convince the farmers against inundating the fields. He said, “Many farmers are inundating the fields in a bid to hide residue of burnt stubble. It is a sheer wastage of water and electricity. There is no need to inundate fields as paddy sowing will commence after June 10.”

97 villages exempted from paddy schedule

• The government has exempted 97 waterlogging-affected villages in Muktsar, Faridkot, Fazilka, Bathinda and Mansa districts. Farmers here can sow paddy crop anytime.
• Of these 97 villages, 77 fall in Muktsar district, 11 in Faridkot, six in Fazilka, two in Bathinda and one in Mansa