In spite of the fact that paddy planting is scheduled to start from June 10, ranchers’ associations in Punjab have begun challenging the state government and Power State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), requesting 16 hours’ continuous force gracefully with prompt impact.
Transplanting comprises of getting ready seedlings in a nursery and afterward planting these seedlings in the fields. The Punjab government gives ranchers 8 hours’ continuous force gracefully to run tubewell engines to water paddy fields from the official date of planting each year.
Ranchers state that this time, countless them are receiving the ‘direct seeding rice’ (DSR) strategy, which is done much before ordinary paddy interpreting beginning from June 10, and for which the force flexibly is expected to water fields.
“This time, due to the lockdown, there is a huge shortage of skilled migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states who come to Punjab for transplanting paddy in June. Locally available labour is not as fast as migrant labour when it comes to paddy translating — a backward walking transplanting process in the puddle fields. Many migrant labourers have also returned to their home states. In such a situation, a large number of farmers have been left with no option but to opt for DSR, which does not need paddy nursery to transplant but simply sows rice seed in the filed directly with the help of several types of machines including DSR machine, Lucky Seeder and with the help of some other modified machines,” said farmers and agriculture experts.
