Amritsar: border belt, 62,313 hectare-metre water saved this year Paddy plantation that draws most of the underground water in this season had been zero per cent in the entire border belt of the state. With the government officials, especially of the Agriculture Department, strictly implementing the ban on planting paddy before June 10, and farmers also being cooperative, the sowing was nil till yesterday unlike last year, when till date over 70 per cent of the paddy was planted. Chief Agriculture Officer Paramjit Singh Sandhu said they had acted against over a dozen farmers for violating the norms and their fields were ploughed. "The farmers are also cooperating and as the ban was effectively implemented, transplantation was not possible,' he said. Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, who was pro-active in implementing the ban on transplantation, said the orders were passed following consultations with the Central Groundwater Board. Notably, the net ground water availability in Amritsar is 1.3 lakh hectare metres per year, whereas the draft of groundwater for irrigation per year is 1.87 lakh hectare metres. "After the monsoon arrives, there will be plenty of water for paddy. We are killing two birds with one stone, as we are not only saving groundwater, but also utilising the rainwater for irrigation,' said Pannu, adding that saving power was a yet another side gain of the ban, as tubewells were not used. "The gain of 62,313 hectare metres water this year is the biggest saving so far,' he said. The officials said all the eight blocks of the district have been put in the category of