Agriculture Minister orders strict action against anyone found selling duplicate seeds & fertilizers
Agriculture department to set up Social media cell to sensitise farmers
Fertilizer, seed and medicine sellers must provide bill to farmers
Chandigarh, July 27: Complying with the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today issued directions to the officials of the agriculture department for adopting modern methods and techniques to senstise farmers as per the needs of the present day farming sector.
Notably the Chief Minister had given these directions to the Agriculture Department during a recent meeting held with the senior officials. While chairing a meeting in this regard the Agriculture Minister said that the benefits of all the farmer welfare schemes must reach at the ground level to the last beneficiary.
Kuldeep Dhaliwal said that Punjab is an agricultural state with 70 percent of its population dependent on agriculture. He also said that 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. He also warned 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 sensitising 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 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.
Kuldeep Dhaliwal said that present day is the era of social media and the agriculture department should immediately set up a social media cell to aware farmers about the welfare schemes, quality fertilizers, seeds and medicines besides other farmer friendly initiatives and information about crops on various social media platforms.
