Chandigarh, May 5, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today requested chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to prepone the paddy transplantation season to June 1 by removing the ban on transplantation of paddy till June 15 keeping in view of the severe labour shortage due to return of migrant labour to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
In a statement here, the SAD President also asked the chief minister to exponentially increase paddy transplantation machines in the State to increase mechanisation so that the labour shortage could be offset to some extent. He said farmers willing to purchase paddy transplanters should be given a 75 per cent subsidy. He said the government should also purchase transplanters and give them to Cooperative Societies so that farmers could make use of them.
He also called for giving direct cash benefits to farmers who were not able to transplant paddy due to labour shortage. He said the cash benefit could encourage farmers to go in for diversification into maize and would also give a fillip to ground water conservation.
Giving details, Mr Sukhbir Badal said lakhs of migrant labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were in the process of returning to their home States. He said in such a scenario there was likely to be severe shortage of labour for transplanting paddy. “The government should prepone the transplantation season to June 1 so that labour available in the State could be used in a staggered manner”.
The SAD President also asked the government to permit transplantation of PUSA 44 paddy variety which was being disallowed on the pretext that it took 20 to 22 days more to mature than other varieties leading to high moisture content later. He said in case the government preponed the transplantation season then PUSA 44 could be easily harvested in time. He said since PUSA 44 yielded 20 to 22 quintals more per acre, it would partially offset the loss suffered by farmers due to increased labour costs during the ongoing wheat harvesting season and upcoming paddy transplantation season. He said farmers had already purchased PUSA 44 seed.
Mr Badal also requested the chief minister to compensate farmers of Patiala, Ropar, Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib districts who had suffered huge losses in yield due to inclement weather and resultant value cuts on shrivelled grains. He said the farmers could be compensated from the Rs 6,000 crore funds accumulated in the State Disaster Management Fund.
He also requested the State government to compensate vegetable growers who had suffered huge losses as well as raise the milk procurement rate as had been done by Haryana to adequately compensate dairy farmers for the steep hike in input costs.
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