- HAD ADOPTED ONE VILLAGE FIVE YEARS BACK, NOW NUMBER HAS REACHED 34 VILLAGES
- IN VIEW OF 550TH PARKASH PURAB CELEBRATIONS OF SHRI GURU NANAK DEV JI, FARMERS ARE BEING PROVIDED TECHNICAL TRAINING FOR STRAW MANAGEMENT
Ludhiana, September 16:
For his efforts towards management of paddy/wheat straw to save our environment for the last five years, Dr Harminder Singh Sidhu, a progressive farmer and director of Gadri Baba Dulla Singh Giani Nihal Singh Foundation, village Jalaldiwal near Raikot in district Ludhiana, has been honoured by Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and Union Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare during a function organised at NASC Complex, New Delhi.
For the last five years, Dr Harminder Singh Sidhu and his team have not burnt paddy/wheat straw in their own fields, besides they are also involved in creating awareness amongst the other farmers of Raikot Sub Division about the ill effects of paddy/wheat straw towards our environment. With the support of CII Foundation India, Dr Sidhu and his team, with help of Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, ICAR (Atari & Ludhiana), CIPHET Ludhiana, has provided technical assistance and awareness programme to the farmers, along with machinery in this regard.
Last year, the foundation had adopted 11 villages and saved 11,000 acres of paddy straw being burnt by the farmers. In view of 550th Parkash Purab celebrations of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, this year, they have adopted 34 villages of Raikot sub division.
Dr Harminder Singh Sidhu and Mr Tota Singh, Directors of Gadri Baba Dulla Singh Giani Nihal Singh Foundation, informed that their foundation has been regularly educating the farmers about ill effects of burning straw and benefits of ploughing it in soil, along with organising training camps in their villages, as well as visits to Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana.
They said that during harvesting season, their team members stay in villages for several days and provide technical assistance to the farmers. They informed that they started this work five years ago by adopting one village, and now this figure has reached 34. They also informed that they are also in the process of setting up air quality check machines in these villages to check quality of air, along with soil testing. They said that the main aim of their foundation is to ensure that no farmer of the state sets paddy straw on fire during the upcoming Paddy season.
They said that the Mission Tandrust Punjab being started by the Capt Amarinder Singh led Punjab government has started showing positive results. He said that due to the efforts of Punjab government in this regard, several organisations have come forward to educate the farmers and provide them with technical knowhow. The foundation is involved in providing machinery for this purpose to the farmers with the help of BPCL, Royal Enfield and CII Foundation.
They have appealed to the farmers that in view of 550th Parkash Purab celebrations of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, they should not burn paddy straw as it would be real tribute to the first Sikh guru.
