Combine owners at odds with admn

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, October 3

Combine harvester owners and the district administration are at loggerheads over the installation of super straw management system.

While the administration has announced that no combine harvester would be allowed to run without the system, the combine owners have threatened stalling the harvesting process by handing over the keys of the machines to the Deputy Commissioner in protest.

The owners said a majority of combine harvesters were unable to run the system due to low power of the machines. “One machine has a strength of 100 horsepower, of which 90 horsepower is consumed by the thrasher and other components. The system can’t be run with the remaining 10 horsepower. It requires additional 30-40 horsepower to work smoothly. Further, if we will install the system, the baler machines bought by spending huge money will become useless,” said Manna Singh, a combine harvester owner from Sangu Dhaun village here. He said the officials had made the system mandatory without even knowing the ground realities.

Notably, the system leaves little plant stalk, eliminating the need for setting the paddy stubble on fire, which causes air pollution.

Meanwhile, the district administration impounded a combine harvester for operating without the system. It also appointed eight coordinators and 90 nodal officers to stop the illegal practice of straw burning.