Produce farmers you helped manage stubble: NGT to state

New Delhi, October 11

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today directed the Punjab Government to produce before it 21 farmers which it claimed to have helped by giving incentives and infrastructural facilities to prevent them from burning crop residue in a bid to check air pollution.

Over a 100 farmers had gathered outside the NGT premises here today to attend the hearing on the issue and put forth their submissions and grievances through a lawyer before a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.

The Bench took exception to the fact that even after more than two years, nothing substantial has been done with regard to stubble burning.

It directed the state government to produce the 21 farmers before it on October 13, after the state told the NGT that it had provided assistance to them to encourage them not to burn crop residue.

“For two years, we waited for you (Punjab) to comply with our direction. We asked you to come up with an action plan for at least one district. What steps did you take in this regard?

“Can you produce a single farmer from the entire Punjab before us, whom you can say that you have provided any kind of assistance? This is not a political issue but this issue relates to the environment. You should think as a human being why this is taking so long,” the Bench, also comprising Justice RS Rathore, said.

During the proceedings, advocate IG Kapila, appearing for the farmers, referred to a newspaper report and said the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a few biomass power units have expressed their intent to purchase crop residue from farmers in surrounding states.

He said the NTPC and representatives of other companies were willing to cut and buy crop residue from the fields. Kapila, on behalf of the large number of farmers who had gathered outside the NGT to attend the hearing, said the state government had not taken any concrete step to help the farmers. The government had earlier said that they had taken Kalar Majri village in Nabha Tehsil of Patiala district as a model project for implementing the directions of the NGT and to sensitise the farmers.

While the farmers of Kalar Majri village, which has around 390 acres of land under paddy, were yet to get machinery or financial assistance by the government, the neighbouring villages have started setting their fields on fire, a farmer said outside the courtroom. — PTI