Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday kick-started the ambitious drive — Direct
Sowing of Rice (DSR) which promotes cultivation of paddy by using lesser amount of water —
from his native village Satauj.
Exhorting the farmers of his native village to go for this new technique of paddy sowing in a big
way, Mann said that since the residents of Punjab have given a massive mandate to form AAP
Government in the State, and now it was our bounden duty to take path breaking initiatives like
DSR and several more for state’s overall development and prosperity, for which people’s
wholehearted cooperation and support is immensely needed.
Showing deep concern over the fast depleting groundwater at the alarming level, Mann said that
it is the need of the hour to motivate our farmers to switch over from traditional paddy
transplantation to the advanced technology of DSR.
Moreover, it is a high time to adopt an alternate technique for paddy cultivation thus saving the
much scarce and precious natural resource water as almost half of the land being cultivated by
the farmers and they could play a pivotal role in this regard.
“To promote the DSR technology, our government has also decided to provide financial
assistance of Rs 1,500 per acre to the farmers who adopt this water saving method of cultivating
paddy,” he said.
Calling upon the farmers of Satauj village, Mann said that they will have to set an example for
the entire Punjab by sowing paddy with DSR method on maximum area of land.
GOVT TO PROVIDE MSP ON MAIZE, PULSES, BAJRA
To encourage crop diversification in Punjab, the CM said that their government will provide
MSP on alternative crops including maize, pulse, and bajra and will sell the produce of these
crops on their own responsibility. The Chief Minister also assured the farmers that during the
tenure of their government, they will be getting superior quality of fertilisers, herbicides, and
pesticides.
GOVT TO RESUME MINING FROM STATE’S ALLOTTED MINE IN JHARKHAND
To ease the power supply situation in the state, Mann said that there will be no problem of
electricity supply as their government is going to resume mining of coal from Punjab’s allotted
mine in Jharkhand which was shut since 2015. He pointed out further that with uninterrupted
supply of coal, there will be normal supply of power for agriculture, domestic, and
industrial sectors, as well.