Stubble burning: No leave for officials, staff of Punjab Agriculture Dept till Nov 7, says Kuldeep Dhaliwal

Chandigarh, September 16

: The Punjab Government has declared a war on stubble burning to save water, soil and environment from pollution. Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal hold a meeting with district Agriculture officers on Friday to discuss a blueprint to control stubble burning and implementation at the district level.

The Agriculture Minister said that controlling stubble burning is a major challenge for the state.

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To put an end to the practice of stubble burning and paddy straw management the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to take various concrete steps such as providing agriculture implements on subsidy to farmers, running awareness campaigns and some new scientific methods such as decomposer spray are being adopted to stop stubble burning practice in the state. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal gave a call to all the officers and employees to work practically at ground zero instead of just doing paperwork. Agriculture Minister today directed the senior officers not to give leave to any officer or employee of the agriculture department till November 7.

Punjab Agriculture Minister also ordered to establish a state level control room to keep a vigil on all the activities in the field regarding stubble burning awareness campaign and immediate reporting of cases of stubble burning. The Minister also asked the Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Saravjit Singh to be in regular touch with the district civil and police administration regarding the issue of stubble burning. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal further said that on Monday he will be holding a meeting with some cabinet colleagues and Vice Chancellors of all the universities of the state to take services of NSS volunteers to aware people regarding the ill effects of stubble burning. In the end the Agriculture Minister disclosed that the Punjab government will provide happy seeder machines to the Block level Agriculture officers which the small farmers can use free. He said that already about 2-5 machines have been provided at block level and they are trying to give about 10 happy seeder machines to the Agriculture officers for the use of farmers.

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Other prominent leaders were also present in the meeting including ACS Agriculture Saravjit Singh, Special Principal Secretary to CM and Secretary Mandi Board Ravi Bhagat, Director Agriculture Gurvinder Singh and all the district Agriculture officers. -PTC News