Going full steam against the menace of spurious seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, Punjab Government on Tuesday made it clear that it would act tough against every kind of mafia.
“Punjab Government is undertaking specialized efforts for the welfare of the farmers and bolstering agriculture with modern techniques...The Government will also investigate the Gujarati seeds issue which were sold to the farmers by keeping them in the dark,” said the state Rural Development and Panchayats, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Tuesday.
Dhaliwal, who was visiting the fields of villages in Bathinda — Jodhpur Romana, Fullo Mitthi, Pakka Kalan, Dunewala, Tarkhanwala, and Gurusarsaine Wala — to conduct a survey regarding pink bollworm and white mosquito, assured the farmers that the Government would not let any harm come to their crops.
He said that marketing would be emphasized in order to boost the cultivation of Maize on the pattern of Moongi and other allied crops which would give impetus to the crop diversification.
On the occasion, the Minister also directed the officers to initiate strict action against many petrol pump owners who force the farmers to buy more items in addition to the necessary ones and suspend the licences of such petrol pump owners.
The Minister, interacting with the mediapersons, reiterated that the State Government stands firmly with the farming community and is undertaking special efforts to modernize the agriculture in order to make it a profitable venture and take it out of the wheat and paddy cycle.
“The teams appointed by the Department would again visit the fields on July 28 to take stock of the cotton crop,” he added.
The Minister also apprised that the Agriculture Department has formed a three-member Flying Squad for prevention of Pink bollworm and white fly. “A helpline number would also be released soon which would benefit the common people in large measure,” he said.
“As many as 230 departmental teams inspected the cotton crop on Tuesday at 757 places out of which white fly has been found at 370 while pink bollworm has been detected at 14 places and that too in very small measure,” he added.