Punjab govt transfers ₹19.83-cr incentive to over 17K Farmers for adopting DSR

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Government led by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, on Friday, transferred Rs. 19.83 Crore into the bank accounts of 17007 farmers, who had opted Direct Sowing Rice (DSR) in Kharif season 2023.

Disclosing this here today, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that a total of 19,114 farmers have registered 1,72,049 acres on the DSR portal during 2023-24. After the verification done by concerned district officials, a total of 18,931 farmers and 133745.67 acres of land under DSR was verified by the officials concerned.

S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that Chief Minister S Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has been encouraging farmers to adopt DSR to save precious ground water. The state government had announced an incentive amount of Rs 1500 per acre for the farmers who would sow paddy directly (without transplanting) during this year (2023-24). Now, this amount has been transferred to the farmers' accounts through Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT).

After verification, a total of Rs. 19.83 Crore has been reimbursed to beneficiary farmers’ accounts successfully, thus 98.8 % of payment of farmers has been cleared and rest of the amount will be transferred soon.