Centre's efforts behind fall in farm fires in state, says Union Minister

Advertisement

New Delhi, December 10

Union Cabinet Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav today said Centre’s efforts were the factor behind the fall in stubble-burning cases in Punjab this year.

“The Union Government’s efforts to get bio-decomposer sprayed under corporate social responsibility initiatives were responsible for lesser farm fires in Punjab,” Yadav said.

Dual approach

The AAP government adopted two-sided approach. It used bio-decomposer, a microbial solution to decompose paddy straw, in the Capital, but not in Punjab. —Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment

Speaking at an event here, Yadav criticised the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab for adopting two-sided approach to curb farm fires. “The AAP government used bio-decomposer, a microbial solution to decompose paddy straw, in the capital but not in Punjab,” the Union Minister said.

Punjab registered a reduction of 29.99 per cent decline in farm fires, while Haryana recorded a fall of 47.6 per cent this year. Stubble-burning is one of the major reasons behind the spike in air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region in the months of October and November.

According to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Ludhiana, which records both stubble-burning incidents and the area in which crop residue is burnt, Punjab has reported that paddy was set on fire in around 15.42 lakh hectares this year. The total area cultivated under paddy was 30.28 lakh hectares. The area burnt accounts for 51 per cent.

Last year, farmers in the state had burnt paddy in 15.64 lakh hectares of the total 29.68 lakh hectares, accounting for 52.7 per cent.

This year, nearly 21,720 hectares less was burnt, accounting for a reduction of 1.4% than last year.

Compared to 76,755 farm fires in 2020 and 71,286 in 2021, the state reported a sharp decline with only 49,922 cases this year.