Punjab, Rajasthan not doing enough to check stubble-burning: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, November 7

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said incidents of stubble-burning have risen by 160 per cent in Rajasthan and 20 per cent in Punjab from October 2021 to October this year.

Farm fires in Punjab rose from 13,269 in October 2021 to 16,004 in October 2022, while their number rose from 124 to 318 in Rajasthan during this period, Singh said.

This, he said, implies that the governments in the two states are not doing enough to check stubble-burning and are, on the contrary, increasingly contributing to the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR.

On the other hand, states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have recorded a progressive decline in the incidents of stubble-burning, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences said.

Farm fires in Uttar Pradesh declined from 1,060 in October 2021 to 768 in October this year, while for Haryana, the number dipped from 2,914 to 1,995 during this period, Singh said.

“Such inferences indicate that either the governments in Rajasthan and Punjab are not serious about air quality or they have not properly utilised the funds which were provided by the Narendra Modi government to purchase machines for stubble management,” a statement quoted the minister as saying.

Singh said the Centre had provided Rs 3,138 crore to states, including around Rs 1,500 crore to Punjab alone, for stubble management since 2018-19.