DC, SSP plough fields to dissuade farmers from stubble burning

After several rounds of meetings and counselling sessions with farmers by the district police and civil administration to dissuade them from burning paddy stubble, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sagar Setia and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Gandhi of Moga took to the fields on Saturday -- riding a tractor and demonstrating land ploughing after paddy harvesting -- to showcase that stubble burning is not a necessity.

The officers visited several villages in the Bagha Purana block and ploughed harvested fields to demonstrate stubble-management techniques.

DC Setia said the district administration was making concerted efforts to encourage farmers to adopt scientific and eco-friendly methods of managing paddy residue. “We are ensuring easy access to environment-friendly agricultural machinery so that no farmer resorts to stubble burning due to the unavailability of equipment,” he said.

He pointed out that stubble burning not only contributes to severe air pollution but also causes road accidents due to poor visibility and leads to respiratory and other health ailments. “It also destroys the organic matter vital for maintaining soil fertility,” he added, urging farmers to plough the residue back into the soil or make bales for proper storage and reuse.

SSP Ajay Gandhi said the police were working in close coordination with the civil administration to check incidents of stubble burning and ensure effective enforcement of related norms.

This year, around 320 modern agricultural machines have been provided to farmers on subsidy, in addition to 4,800 machines already available in the district. Moreover, storage sites covering 62 acres across 40 villages have been created for stacking stubble bales.

To monitor and act on stubble-burning cases, the district administration has deployed 27 cluster officers and 152 nodal officers.