Take effective steps to curtail farm fires: Cabinet Secretary pulls up Punjab

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, November 9

Pulling up Punjab over stubble burning, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has directed the state to take “effective action” to stop the practice and fix responsibility of deputy commissioners, senior superintendents of police and the area station house officer (SHO) to ensure this.

93% cases in Punjab

• Between Sept 15 and November 7, as many as 22,644 stubble burning cases recorded
• Of these, 20,978 (or 93%) in Punjab, 1,605 (7%) in Haryana

Delhi AQI still ‘severe’

• The Delhi air quality continued to be in the ‘severe’ category with the 24-hour average AQI settling at 437 on Thursday

Slight relief likely ahead of Diwali

• A marginal improvement in AQI likely before Diwali as weather conditions may turn favourable
• Due to change in weather, wind speed will increase from 5 kmph at present to around 15 kmph on Nov 11, which will help disperse pollutants, said the IMD

“It has emerged that the current air pollution crisis is majorly on account of stubble burning,” sources said.

They said as of November 8, nearly 38 per cent of the air pollution was contributed by stubble burning. For the September 15-November 7 period, a total of 22,644 stubble burning events were recorded, of which 20,978 — or 93 per cent — were in Punjab and 1,605 — 7 per cent — in Haryana. The data was provided by the Commission on Air Quality Management (CAQM), the central air quality monitoring agency. Inputs were provided by state governments.

The data on stubble burning was presented at a meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary yesterday. The meeting was convened following directions from the SC on November 7. The meeting was attended by the chief secretaries and other senior officers of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Delhi. The meeting was also attended by the secretaries of the ministries of Environment and Forests, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Affairs and Power.

The Cabinet Secretary has also asked the CAQM to send flying squads to Punjab and Haryana and submit daily reports on farm fire incidents, besides giving updates on enforcement of directions of the Supreme Court by the DCs and SSPs. Nearly 90 per cent of the harvest is complete in Punjab and 60 per cent in Haryana. “Immediate steps are, therefore, needed to check further stubble burning during the remaining harvesting season, particularly in Punjab,” the sources said.

The Agriculture Ministry said Rs 3,333 crore had been released under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme so far. Of this, Rs 1,531 crore was released to Punjab and Rs 1,006 crore to Haryana. Nearly 1.20 lakh seeder machines are available in Punjab and 76,000 in Haryana. “Optimum utilisation of these machines could have prevented stubble burning to such a large extent,” it was noted.

Haryana informed the meeting that it had been implementing its own incentive scheme for ex situ management — procurement of straw from farmers and its transportation.

Punjab has been asked to launch similar schemes so that stubble burning can be prevented in the remaining harvesting season this year as well as in future.

Haryana has been asked to expand and enlarge the scope of its scheme for ex situ management to ensure that there is no stubble burning next year.

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#Agriculture #Environment #Farm Fires #Pollution #Stubble Burning