Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 19
The Centre on Wednesday said that the incidents of stubble burning had started increasing rapidly, especially in Punjab, accusing the state government of not taking adequate steps to prevent them. Punjab "has not been able to take coordinated actions to contain stubble burning in the state" and coverage of land for the application of Pusa decomposer was also less, it said coming down heavily on Punjab.
"The State had been provided sufficient number of equipment and farm machineries under CRM scheme and also adequate funds have been provided yet there has not been sufficient progress in implementation of the action plan", according to an official statement issued following an inter-ministerial meeting with states on the issues of crop residue management.
The Punjab Chief Secretary was asked to control "the increasing rate of fire events in Amritsar and ensure a 50 per cent reduction in comparison to last year", according to the statement
Speaking at the meeting, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the "Punjab government had not been able to take coordinated actions to contain farm fires in the state".
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said "if effective checking was done in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, half the job will be done because these two districts are facing the maximum problem".
The status of paddy straw management in Haryana was "significantly better than that in Punjab", he added
Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala called for "proactive steps" especially by Punjab.
Commission for Air Quality Management chairman M M Kutty said that Punjab has taken "inadequate" steps in spite of several meetings and efforts by the statutory panel.
"Till October 15, the trend of fire events was less as compared to last year but now it has started growing rapidly, especially in Punjab", Yadav said.
The ministers also noted that the Pusa bio-decomposer— a microbial solution which turns stubble into manure in 15-20 days — was being sprayed in a lesser area in Punjab and its application needs to be promoted and enhanced.
Tomar said a workshop is being organised in Pusa, Delhi, on November 4 in which farmers from Punjab and adjoining areas have been called. "The senior officers of Punjab should also participate in this workshop so that their doubts regarding the Pusa decomposer are cleared," he said
Yadav asked the Punjab Chief Secretary to take immediate and appropriate action as well as to promote the use of Pusa decomposer.
Nine out of 22 districts in Punjab and four out of 22 districts in Haryana are major contributors of stubble burning the states, he said.
Speaking at the meeting, Tomar called for fixing the accountability of collectors in affected districts by respective states.
Along with meteorological conditions, paddy straw burning in adjoining states is among the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the NCR region around October and November.
Senior officials from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the three central ministries, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the CPCB, the CAQM and the Ministry of Power attended the meeting where states were also asked to ensure effective utilisation of 2.07 lakh machines already supplied to them in the past four years and 47,000 machines being provided in the current year.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/tjP5768
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