To facilitate the state’s farmers to give their willingness for the area to be sown with the Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technology, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday launched a DSR portal.
Lauding the farmer-friendly initiative, 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 1,500 per acre after proper verification through this portal to the genuine beneficiaries in a fair and transparent manner.
Apprising the Chief Minister about the modalities of the portal, the state Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture) Sarvjit Singh 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 percent saving of water besides helping in effective percolation of water ultimately improving the groundwater level through proper recharging. This cost-effective technique would also cut down the labour cost by nearly Rs 4,000 per acre.
The State Government has already deployed 3,000 officers or officials of various departments, including Agriculture, Horticulture, Mandi Board, and Water and 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.
Notably, the farmers from across the State are expected to cultivate paddy, including Basmati, over an area of 30 lakh hectares (75 lakh acres) during this Kharif season. As per available data, paddy was sown last year in an area of 15 lakh acres (six lakh hectares) through DSR; and during this season, the State Government has fixed the target of 30 lakh acres under the new technique.
Haryana govt suspends 6 officials of Urban Local Bodies Dept in embezzlement cases
PNS Chandigarh
The Haryana government on Wednesday suspended six officials of the Urban Local Bodies Department in two embezzlement cases. Directions for registering FIRs against these officials have also been issued.
Four years ago, two embezzlement complaints were received against the officers on the CM Window, a grievance redressal system, an official statement said. It said a thorough investigation established their involvement in the embezzlement cases. In 2017, a complaint was received pertaining to the alleged inflated estimate of Rs 5 lakh against the actual Rs 50,000 in respect of an earthwork in an unapproved area from Paladi Road to Mother's Pride School in Nuh. The estimate had been revised without the approval of the competent authority. Hence, the payment had been released in total disregard of rules as the work was executed in an unapproved area. An inquiry report by the deputy commissioner of Nuh recommended appropriate action against four officials -- Jasmeer, Javed Hussain, Rajesh Dalal and Lakhmi Chand Raghav.
In 2018, another complaint was lodged regarding discrepancies in inviting tenders for the installation of street lights on the main road in Bawani Khera city at an estimated cost of Rs 99.73 lakh. The due process of tendering was not followed, the statement said. The matter was then probed by the additional deputy commissioner, Bhiwani who reported that the tender process was void ab initio. Appropriate action was recommended against two officers -- Pankaj Dhanda and Parveen Kumar, it said.
