The sub soil water is lowering each year,farmers are chasing it down and down.
Raghbir Singh Brar
Email:raghbirsinghbrar@gmail.com
Faridkot
June 10,2026
Whatsoever the statics tell, but practically going by the version of the farmers, subsoil water in Punjab is alarmingly going down.The AAP led government’s move to advance the paddy transplantation by 10 days or so, from June 5 onwards,instead of June 15 onwards earlier, is a hard blow to the precious source of sub soil water.
The then Punjab government led by Captain Amarinder Singh had passed “The Punjab preservation of subsoil water act 2009” to save the depleting level of the ground water in 2009 and the farmers had allegedly accepted it too.Late transplantation of paddy yielded good results in changed weather conditions,but clearing the paddy stubble was a problem apart from the moisture content in the produce in smoky days.
This left short window period for the farmers to sow next wheat crop as it is required to be sown by November 15.The most of the PR varieties clear the field in October but when as no paddy stubble burning is allowed,it delays the watering the preparations of the fields.Still, it led to the higher yields of paddy as by the late transplantation of paddy season ,monsoon rains are close to it and during the maturity, the temperatures are ideal.
But the AAP government led by Bhawant Mann has allowed the paddy transplantation for the Faridkot region from June 5,which is a hard blow to the sub soil water.
“Each year, the sub soil water is falling.We had 70 feet suction or delivery pipes about 5 years ago.Now we had to add 10 feet delivery pies each year and it is now 110 feet.when we transplant paddy in absence of rains, out tubewells fail to pump out water.But we can say that water level is depleting each year as we had to chase it down,’ said Dharam Singh, a farmer from village Panjgrain Kalan of Faridkot district.
“The subsoil water in our village is at about 60 feet deep.I think it has gone down by 5 to 10 feet in last 5-6 years.Earlier,I had 70 feet delivery (suction pipes) installed, now it is 90 feet,” said Jagseer Singh, a farmer from village Niamiwala of Faridkot.
“Some years ago, we had 90 feet delivery pipes(suction pipes), but in past years, we had to add two more pipes and now our delivery pipes are 110 feet deep.However, the water level in our village is at about 30 feet deep only,’ said Amardeep Singh of village Wara Daraka of Faridkot.
“But farmers are chasing down the water.Now most of our tubewells are at the depth of 500 to 600 feet.Boaring a tubewell cost about Rs 270 per feet excluding other expenses.The installation of agriculture pump set is beyond the reach of a small farmers.Even installation of a solar system cost above Rs 3 lakh,’ said Amardeep Singh.
“The sub soil water level is certainly going down.Earlier we had installed 100 feet down the suction pipes,but last year, our tubewels failed.Then we added 20 feet more delivery pipes to run those.The water level is about 50 percent deep in our village,’ said Dipty Singh, a farmer from village Dhilwan Kalan of Faridkot.
THe situation is very alarming, results may be disastrous, we may have to get rid of paddy
Harjinder Singh Gill, a farmer from village Gholia KHurd of Moga district said that the depletion of the sub soil water is alarming.”Earlier, we had 100 deep suction or delivery pipes,but now they are 140 deep.Only three pipes(10 feet each) come of dipping out of the water, means sub soil water in our area is at 100 feet down.I don’t think that we shall be able to grow paddy for long.we need an alternative,’ said Harjinder Singh.
How advancement of paddy by AAP government hit the subsoil water
When the paddy translation is advanced from June 15 or so, to June 5, it provided an opportunity to the farmers to grow allegedly denotified water guzzling varieties like PUSA 44.PEELA PUSA or DOGAR PUSA.which take about 160 days for maturity,need more fertilizers, more water,more insecticides and pesticides,produce more stubble.
PR varieties usually take between 130 to 144 days for maturity.
These days, the temperature is very high, evaporation is too much evaporation, but due to free power supply, farmers have started transplanting.
No relief of labour price
The price of the labour for manual transplantation is between Rs 4000 to 4600 per acre now.Still, it may, if no rainfalls occur right now, may not create a shortage of labour.
A plus point of AAP government but misuse by the farmers
The AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann tried its best to provide canal water to the farmers and more power supply to the tubewells, but farmers allegedly misused the free power supply by irrigating the fields even before June 5 or so.
Even some of the farmers do not care to use canal water and mostly rely on “switch and shut the eyes” way of drawing sub soil water.
