CM Bhagwant Mann launches unique DSR portal to give direct incentive to farmers

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Wednesday, launched a Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) portal, here at his official residence, to facilitate the farmers who are rallying to save ground water by adopting DSR technique. Highly lauding this farmer friendly initiative of Mandi Board and Agriculture Department, Bhagwant Mann said that it would be instrumental to compile the entire data about each and every farmer, who has opted for DSR technique besides ensuring payment of Rs. 1500 per acre after proper verification through this portal to the genuine beneficiaries in a fair and transparent manner. Bhagwant Mann said that their campaign to save valuable ground water of Punjab is receiving an overwhelming response of the farmers.

Area under Moong has been doubled and more and more farmers everyday opting for DSR technique instead of tradition one to sow paddy and contributing to save the valuable resource of the state. Unlike the previous governments, in AAP government the beneficiaries of any scheme won’t have to run from pillar to post to get their right, Punjab government is launching this portal today to ensure that our farmers won’t have to face any hassle.Apprising the Chief Minister about the modalities aforementioned portal, Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture said that after proper verification, the incentive amount of Rs.1500 per acre would be directly transferred into the bank accounts of the respective farmers. Notably, this unique portal has been developed and designed by Mandi Board in sync with the Agriculture Department. With the adoption of this innovative technology there would be at least 15-20% saving of water besides helping in effective percolation of water ultimately improving the ground water level through proper recharging. This cost-effective technique would also cut-down the labour cost by nearly Rs. 4000 per acre.

The state government has already deployed 3000 officers/officials of various departments including Agriculture, Horticulture, Mandi Board and Water & Soil Conservation to oversee the DSR operations meticulously for imparting proper technical guidance to the farmers as well as undertaking verification of the area sown under this advanced technology so as to ensure that the payment of Rs. 1500 per acre is only made to the genuine beneficiaries. It may be recalled that the farmers from across the state would cultivate paddy including Basmati over an area of 30 lakh hectares (75 lakh acres) during this Kharif season. As per available data, last year 6 lakh hectares of paddy was cultivated through DSR and this year the target is to double the area under DSR. Prominent among others who were attended the meeting included Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari, ACS Agriculture Saravjit Singh, ACS Finance KAP Sinha and Director Agriculture Gurwinder Singh.