In a bid to encourage the farmers to not burn the wheat straw and ensure paddy transplantation after June 20, the Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma today flagged off awareness vans from the office of the Chief Agriculture Officer. Interacting with the farmers, the Deputy Commissioner said that these vans, which have been fitted with audio-visual techniques, would sensitise the people about hazardous effects of wheat straw burning. He said that wheat straw was very useful for the farmers and it should not be burnt at any cost. Mr. Sharma said that burning of wheat straw poses a major danger to our environment and must be avoided at every cost. Exhorting the farmers to start transplantation of paddy after June 20, the Deputy Commissioner said that it would be the most valuable contribution for making Punjab a healthy state and to preserve its valuable natural resource viz. water. He said that this would be instrumental in preserving the precious natural resources of the state especially the depleting water table in the state. Mr. Sharma said that water preservation was the need of the hour as it was the very basis of human existence adding that unfortunately the water table in state was on constant decline.
The Deputy Commissioner expressed hope that the information disseminated through these vans would act as a catalyst to save the ground level water. He said that farmers need to be convinced to ensure that paddy was not transplanted before June 20 for which the agriculture department has to keep a strict vigil. Mr. Sharma said that delay in sowing of paddy would provide long term benefits thereby ensuring that our future generations were benefitted from it.Bemoaning on the current situation, the Deputy Commissioner said that water crisis was looming large on our generations as water extraction from the ground was more than its recharge. He said that in such a dismissal scenario the need of hour was to exercise self restraint in pumping out water from the ground for which the deadline of late transplantation of paddy has been fixed.On the occasion Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Naajar Singh and Agriculture Officer Dr. Naresh Gulati also addressed the farmers and apprised them about the benefits late transplantation of paddy.