The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Friday, transferred Rs 19.83 crore into the bank accounts of 17,007 farmers, who had opted for Direct Sowing Rice (DSR) in Kharif season 2023.
Disclosing this here on Friday, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that a total of 19,114 farmers registered 1,72,049 acres on the DSR portal during 2023-24. After the verification by the district officials concerned, a total of 18,931 farmers and 1,33,745.67 acres of land under DSR were verified by the officials concerned.
Khudian said that the Chief Minister has been encouraging farmers to adopt DSR to save precious groundwater. The state government had announced an incentive of Rs 1,500 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 Benefit Transfer (DBT).
After verification, a total of Rs 19.83 crore has been reimbursed to beneficiary farmers’ accounts successfully. While 98.8% of the payment of farmers has been cleared, the remaining amount will be transferred soon.