Ludhiana, Apr 12 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced that the zone-wise cultivation of the paddy crop will start from June 1.

“We have divided the state into three zones and the cultivation of paddy will start in the district falling in three zones on June 1, June 5 and June 9”, said Mann while addressing the gathering during ‘Sarkar Kisaan Milni’ here.

Punjab is the food bowl of the country as it contributes 45 per cent of grains in the national food pool, he said.

However, he lamented that in 70 days of the paddy season, Punjab pumps out a huge quantity of water. By pumping out so much water, we will deprive our coming generations from it which is the basic ingredient of our existence,” he said.

Mann said 4,000 litres of water is required for producing one kg of paddy, and it is posing a serious threat to the basic existence of our coming generations, due to which the state government is making concerted efforts to save it.

The cultivation of paddy in the state has increased from 20 lakh hectares to 32 lakh hectares due to which the need for water to irrigate the fields has increased, he pointed out.

Due to strenuous efforts of the state government, the groundwater level has started increasing and as per a report of the Union government, it has witnessed an upward enhancement of one metre, he said.

Mann said the state government has decided to start cultivation of paddy from June 1 for which the state has been divided into three zones. He said that paddy cultivation in Faridkot, Bathinda, Fazilka, Ferozepur and Sri Muktsar Sahib Districts will start from June 1, adding that in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Tarn, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Sri Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur districts will start on June 5.

In the remaining districts of Ludhiana, Moga, Jalandhar, Mansa, Malerkotla, Sangrur, Patiala, Barnala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Kapurthala it will start on June 9, he said.

The Chief Minister said that it will help in reducing the immediate burden for the supply of power in all the districts of the state during the paddy season.

He said it will avoid complications to farmers in selling their paddy harvest due to high moisture content in October.

This zone-wise cultivation of the paddy crop will be ensured in the state and necessary planning and arrangements are already being made by the Punjab government for this motive, he stated.

Mann said the state government is contemplating banning the cultivation of water guzzling Pussa 44 variety of paddy.

He said that the cultivation of this variety needs around 152 days and it requires 64 lakh litres of water per acre and costs Rs 7,500 per acre to the government for electricity.

Likewise, farmers have to bear expenditure worth nearly Rs 19,000 per acre for cultivation of this variety and it produces paddy straw 10 per cent more than other varieties.

Mann said the state government will ensure a minimum of eight hours of regular power supply to farmers during the paddy season. He said in the areas where canal water supply is available, the electricity will be supplied during the night time for eight hours.

Mann further said the previous governments never bothered about making any effort to save the groundwater and the farmers at the tail ends, on this land of five rivers, never got water.

He further said after assuming charge, his government revived 15,947 water courses in the state due to which water has reached the tail ends even in remotest villages.

At the time when he had assumed the charge of office, only 21 per cent of canal water was being used in the state for irrigation purposes and it has now reached 75 percent, he said.

He said the state government is making strenuous efforts to provide adequate marketing and MSP on alternate crops like maize to bring farmers out of the wheat-paddy circle.

Mann said Punjab produces 80 per cent of the total Basmati produced in the country adding that this production will be further enhanced in the coming days.

He said this will further give a fillip to the basmati industry on one hand and supplement the income of farmers, besides saving the precious natural resource in the form of water. PTI COR CHS MR