Dist with most farm fires in past, Sangrur readies to deal with 14 LMT paddy stubble

Ruchika M Khanna & Sushil Goyal

Will the state's political capital Sangrur finally lead the way in the scientific management of 14 lakh metric tonne (LMT) paddy straw to be generated this year? Where there is a will, there is a way, says Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Rishi. He is full of hope that there will be a substantial reduction in the number of farm fires after paddy is harvested this year.

Proposed plan to set things right

• Nodal Officer appointed for every panchayat to check farm fires
• 39 senior officials to keep check on nodal officers
• Overall supervision by ADCs and SDMs
• Of 250 awareness campaigns, 101 already organised
• DC Sandeep Rishi says besides lodging FIRs, red entries will also be made in the revenue records

  of erring farmers

• SHOs of various police stations will be responsible for the registration of cases of farm fires

14 LMT paddy stubble expected this year

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10.4 LMT to be managed using in-situ methods

3.6 LMT to be managed through ex-situ methods

From awareness campaigns by the district administration to setting up the biggest biogas plant here in 2022 to utilise paddy straw; from providing stubble-management equipment to farmers under the in-situ management plan to threats of red entries in the revenue records of errant farmers, the administration is going all out to implement its ambitious plan for scientific management of crop residue.

The district is notorious for reporting the highest number of farm fires in the state for the past several years, ever since the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre started recording these incidents. This year, a definite plan is in place to check the environmentally dangerous exercise of burning paddy stubble. Of the 36,663 incidents of farm fires recorded in the state in 2023, 5,600 were reported in Sangrur alone, with the entire district remaining enveloped in smog for many weeks during October-November.

Although local residents and farmers also face health hazards due to stubble burning, they claim they have no option but to burn paddy stubble if the harvesting gets delayed due to delayed monsoon.

"Wheat sowing has to be completed by November 15. If the paddy crop matures late, a small farmer like me, who does not have his own stubble management machinery, will not take the risk of waiting for someone to come and cut the stubble, make its bales and take it away. He will simply burn the stubble and then sow wheat, as delay in sowing could affect wheat yield," said a farmer at Lehragagga, insisting that economic factors ruled their judgement on managing paddy stubble.

This farm fire hotspot district is considered power centre of farmer unions with the largest farmer union BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) wielding huge influence here, both politically and administratively.

This explains why in spite of the highest number of farm fires, very few FIRs are registered here. Though environment compensation of Rs 12 lakh was imposed on defaulters last year, only Rs 9 lakh has been recovered so far.

This year also, union leaders remain adamant that they would resist any coercive action against farmers. Amrik Singh Ganduan, Sangrur district president of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), said though they tell farmers to save environment, the fact is that small farmers cannot afford to buy and maintain the machinery.

"The government should arrange for leasing the requisite machinery to the farmers at nominal rates. This said, we will stand by our farmers if any coercive action, including making red entries in records or registering FIRs, is taken by the government," he said.

Adarsh Pal Vig, Chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, claimed there was a big boost to both in-situ and ex-situ stubble management, with machines being provided well in advance. Hopefully, there would be a drastic reduction in farm fire incidents. "In 2023, there 27 per cent reduction in farm fires as compared to the stats for 2022. Since elaborate plans have been chalked out at the district level to tackle such cases this year, the situation should be much better," he said.

But will the CM's home district, which also boasts of sending Harpal Cheema and Aman Arora to the Council of Ministers, reverse the trend this year and wean farmers away from stubble burning in both in-situ and ex-situ stubble management, only time will tell.