Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Wednesday issued directions to the officials of the Agriculture Department for adopting modern methods and techniques to sensitize farmers as per the needs of the present day farming sector.

Notably, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had given these directions to the Agriculture Department during a recent meeting held with the senior officials. Chairing a meeting in this regard, the Agriculture Minister said that the benefits of all the farmer welfare schemes must reach the ground level to the last beneficiary.

Dhaliwal said that Punjab is an agricultural state with 70 percent of its population dependent on agriculture. The mother tongue of the people of the State is Punjabi, so as per the instructions of the Punjab Government, all the work of the agriculture department should be ensured in Punjabi only.

Warning that strict action will be taken against those who violate these norms, the Minister said that only correspondence with the Central Government should be in English or Hindi. The Minister also said that all advertisements, which are for the purpose of sensitizing the farmers, must be issued in Punjabi language only.

To stop the sale of duplicate seeds, fertilizers, and medicines in the market, the Agriculture Minister issued orders that shopkeepers and dealers found indulged in such practices must be dealt with strictly and strict action should be taken against the officials of the department for laxity in preventing such ill practices.

The Agriculture Minister further issued directions that it would be mandatory for the fertilizers, seeds, and medicine sellers to provide bills to the farmers, otherwise legal action would be initiated against such dealers and shopkeepers.

Apart from this, he said that the Agriculture Department should take necessary measures to provide quality fertilizers, seeds, and medicines to the farmers in order to restore the confidence and faith of the farmers in the agriculture department.

Dhaliwal said that the present day is the era of social media and the Agriculture Department should immediately set up a social media cell to aware farmers of the welfare schemes, quality fertilizers, seeds, and medicines besides other farmer-friendly initiatives and information about crops on various social media platforms.