No sowing of paddy before May 15: Govt

Gurgaon: In an attempt to check depleting groundwater levels, the state government has imposed the Haryana Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, and banned sowing of paddy before May 15 and planting it before June 15.
This year, the government has decided to reduce the area under paddy cultivation by two lakh acre. According to a recent notification, if a farmer prepares a nursery for the crop before May 15, an authorised officer can destroy it and impose a penalty of Rs 10,000 per hectare per month.
The expenses incurred to destroy the nursery would be recovered from the farmer. The grower will not be able to move any court, but can only appeal to the district collector within a period of a month. Usually, paddy is sown between end of April and mid-June and planted during May-June.
Last year, paddy had been cultivated on 12.83 lakh hectares across the state, of which 3,719 hectares were in Gurgaon, 4,540 hectares in Mewat, 17,800 hectares in Palwal and 7,110 hectares in Faridabad. This year, the crop is likely to be grown on 12.05 lakh hectares, officials said.
The average groundwater level across the state was 21 m in 2020, according to official data. “Paddy plantation after June 15 can save about 6 cm of water. It will check depletion in the district by about 30 cm a year and save power worth Rs 100 crore that is needed to extract water,” said an official.
He added that the Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme is also being implemented this year to address the issue of water shortage and encourage diversification of crops across the state.
Asked about the development, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, the state president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Chaduni), who has been active in the ongoing farmers’ protest, said: “There are 19 blocks in Haryana where extraction of water is not allowed and 11 of those do not have paddy cultivation. It is not right to say paddy cultivation is leading to water crisis. The government is trying to harass farmers by giving such directions.”