Chandigarh: The Punjab agricultural Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said here today that in order to save agriculture, and stop malpractices, the Punjab government will bring a law to prevent the sale of duplicate and substandard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds. It will be mandatory for the shopkeepers to issue a bill on purchase to the farmers and if anyone is found violating, strict action will be taken.

The Agriculture Minister also warned the officers of the department and said that if any officer is found involved in any malpractices, then they will not be spared.

To save future generations of Punjab, it is most important to save the agriculture of the state. Addressing the representatives of pesticide manufacturers, the Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal lashed out at the previous governments for allowing the sale of fake and non-standard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds in the state and said that due to their negligence, there has been a major decline in the quality of agricultural products of Punjab.

He said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not allow the sale of duplicate and sub standard pesticides, fertilizers and seeds at any cost; many tough decisions will be taken in the coming days to stop such ill practices.

Sharing important information, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that a state-of-the-art lab will be established in Jalandhar for testing of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds and the earlier three labs will be modernized.

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Chandigarh: The Bhagwant Mann government has announced to take a historic decision to provide relief to the farmers of the Malwa cotton belt of the state.

The agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, during his recent visit to the cotton belt of Malwa, listened to the problems of the farmers and today the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association held a meeting with the minister about the problems of cotton farmers and their problems.

Divulging details after the meeting, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the Punjab government will reduce the ‘Aartias’ Commission from 2.5 percent to 1 percent to give direct benefit to the farmers.

The Minister of Agriculture said that commision to ‘Aartias’ can not be given on cotton according to the ratio on wheat and paddy because expenses on paddy and wheat crops include cleaning, filling, weighing and transporting etc, but as per the information given by farmers there are no such expenses on cotton in the grain markets. He said that as a result of this, the government has already reduced the market fee on cotton from 2 percent to 0.5 percent in the intrest of the cotton farmers.

He also said that the farmers of cotton belt are facing a lot of problems due to natural calamities such as bad weather and diseases to the cotton crop, this decision will give some relief to the cotton farmers.

Apart from this, the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association brought to the notice of the Agriculture Minister that for the last few years the cotton crop has been facing various diseases and the farmers of the cotton belt have shifted from cotton to paddy. They further said that many cotton factories in the state are on the brink of closure or have closed due to losses. Association appealed to the Agriculture Minister to take more cotton farmer friendly decisions to encourage cotton crop in the state.

They also informed the Agriculture Minister about their various problems and said that the Electricity Board charges fixed charges which are not justified. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal immediately talked to the Chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Authority and requested him to provide relief to the cotton factory owners. The Chairman assured the minister that a positive solution to this issue will be found.

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