PM Modi interacts with Punjab's youngest female Sarpanch on National Panchayati Raj Day

Interacting with the Prime Minister, Pallavi Thakur, Sarpanch of Hara village of block Dharkalan in Pathankot district, said that the Punjab government has made adequate arrangements for harvest, procurement and transportation of wheat during the lockdown due to Coronavirus.

She told that Punjab government has set up grain markets by forming clusters of four to five villages for smooth procurement of wheat during lockdown to check the spread of corona virus.

Further to prevent people from gathering in the grain markets, a hologram slip is issued to the farmers with a date and only a farmer with a hologram slip can take the wheat to the grain market on the fixed date, she said.

Thakur apprised Modi that the Panchayats were playing a vital role in ensuring compliance of the guidelines issued for the farmers, labour and commission agents by the Punjab Government for the prevention of Corona virus spread.

She also apprised the Prime Minister that the Panchayats had also launched a campaign to aware people about the instructions issued by the Punjab Government such as maintaining social distance of two meters during harvesting wheat, washing hands frequently, cover nose and mouth during working in the fields and grain markets and not to use each other's utensils etc. The Panchayats are also ensuring strict compliance of these instructions.

She also apprised Modi that from the very first day of the announcement of the lockdown, the Panchayats in the villages of Punjab had put barricades on the outskirts of the villages to protect the villagers from corona as no outsider is allowed to enter the village and no one from the village is allowed to go outside without any valid reason or emergency.

During the video conference, Modi said that the farmers of the country especially Punjab had selflessly worked hard to fill the foodgrains of the country. He lauded the efforts of the farmers to provide food, milk and fruits to the people of the country during the present situation caused by the corona virus.

At the same time, the Prime Minister appealed to the farmers to reduce the consumption of urea by 50 percent to save Mother Earth.