CHANDIGARH
As many as 331 challans have been issued for burning Parali (paddy crop residue) in Haryana. A fine of around Rs 9 lakh has been collected. Still, farmers at various places are not desisting from burning stubble. Strict action will be taken against such people who are poisoning the environment.
Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said in the meeting organised on Friday regarding High Level Task Force for Management of Air Pollution in NCR that many important schemes are being implemented to encourage farmers to stop burning stubble. Apart from this, IEC activities are being promoted so that pollution caused by stubble can be reduced in the NCR region.
Chief Secretaries of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and NCR participated in the meeting held through video conferencing under the chairmanship of Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Haryana Chief Secretary said that hot spots for stubble burning have been identified in the state. The Stubble Ex-Situ Management Policy has been approved to utilize stubble and eliminate crop residue burning by 2027.
Under the Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme, farmers are being given an amount of Rs 4,000 per acre for adopting crop diversification and direct sowing of paddy crop. Apart from this, better equipment is being provided to the farmers and farmers are being made aware about the harm caused to the environment by stubble.
The Chief Secretary said that this year the Haryana Government has approved 19 thousand 141 crop residue management machines on subsidy for the farmers, whereas last year 8,071 machines were provided. These machines include various essential equipment including super seeders, zero till equipment and straw baling units. These tools are also optimizing the crop residue management process.
In view of the incidents of stubble burning, he has instructed the Chief Secretaries of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to maintain special vigilance. At the same time, it has been asked to take all possible measures to keep the air quality better.
In this meeting called by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Chief Secretaries of all the states adjacent to Delhi-NCR along with the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy and the Commission that monitors air quality in Delhi-NCR were present. Officials also participated. During this, information was given about the necessary measures taken by the Air Quality Commission to deal with the increasing air pollution this season.