India Paryavaran Sahayak Foundation will save paddy stubble:DC Barnala
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Barnala
Amidst the efforts of Punjab Government and district administration Barnala to shun the malpractice of stubble burning, the NGOs have also came forwarded to sensitize farmers to not go the burning route by adopting alternate methods of sowing wheat. A Delhi-based NGO, India Paryavaran Sahayak (IPS) Foundation has been working in Barnala district on their ‘Change Buddy’ program with an objective to promote custom hiring of farm implements for the management of crop residue.
Deputy Commissioner Barnala Dharam Pal Gupta said that the NGO has formed as many as 33 groups which further align around 410 farmers from 26 villages of Barnala district. He added that the members of the NGO have been working actively in the targeted villages with an aim to save approximately 4,000 acres from setting up fire with the help of Happy Seeder machines.
Gupta informed that under the ‘Change Buddy’ program, owner of Happy Seeder machines have been indentified in these villages by the NGO members along with aligning of common farmers who are willing to use alternate methods of sowing wheat without burning paddy stubble. He added that the member farmers will adopt the direct wheat sowing technique on rental basis from the machine owners. He said that up to 20 acres, the IPS foundation will also contribute Rs 400 per acre to each member farmer towards the rental of Happy Seeder machines.
CEO of IPS Foundation Ritesh Bhatia said that they have chosen 100 villages in the 4 districts of Punjab including Barnala, Sangrur, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib. He added that the NGO was consisted of young professionals from multiple business fields and have pooled CSR funds towards the cause of eliminating the menace of stubble burning. He said that they had also held training sessions and workshops with farmers on handling of farm implements.
On this occasion, ADO Sukhpal Singh, ADO Gurmeet Singh, ADO Gurcharan Singh, Program Manager of NGO Ajay Malik, Field Executives Kamaljit and Darshan Singh and farmers were also present.
