Chandigarh: Punjab Legislative Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has urged farmers not to use dangerous chemical ‘Paraquat’ to ripe the moong crop.

Expressing grave concern over the trend of using hazardous chemicals by the farmers, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that excessive usage of various chemicals for agricultural production is causing dreadful diseases like cancer. He said that some farmers in the state are preferring to ripe the moong crop unnaturally by spraying chemical ‘Paraquat’. He said that while this chemical is harmful for crops, it is also extremely dangerous for human health.

Kultar Singh Sandhwan further said that farmers are preferring to ripe moong by spraying this chemical on the standing crop instead of cutting and drying it. He said that ‘Paraquat’ is the chemical using for herbicides. He said that this chemical has not been recommended by the Agriculture Department or the Agriculture University but farmers are using to save the time.

Kultar Singh Sandhwan has appealed to the farmers not to use this chemical keeping in view of the larger public interest and prefer to ripe the crop naturally.