Haryana chief secretary ask officials to curtail stubble burning incidents

Chandigarh, Oct 20 (PTI) Haryana Chief Secretary T V S N Prasad on Sunday directed the state's deputy commissioners to ensure that stubble-burning incidents are "effectively" curtailed.
    Prasad, who held a review meeting via video conferencing with the district deputy commissioners to discuss measures to prevent stubble burning across the state, emphasised strict adherence to the Supreme Court's orders on farm fires.
    According to an official statement, Kaithal's Deputy Commissioner Vivek Bharti said 11 FIRs have been registered against violators. He said strict action is being taken against those responsible for stubble burning.
    Bharti also said that 123 cases of paddy crop residue burning have been reported in the district so far. Of these, 40 fire locations were not found, while in 63 cases, the burning of paddy crop residue was confirmed, and a fine of Rs 1.57 lakh was imposed.
    A few FIRs have also been registered recently against violators in some other districts, including Panipat and Yamunanagar, he said.
    Nearly a month ago, Prasad, in another meeting with the deputy commissioners, directed to form of a four-member committee comprising a sub-divisional magistrate, a tehsildar and an agriculture development officer at the block level to identify hotspots and implement necessary measures to prevent stubble burning incidents.
    He said officers who performed their duty well would be duly honoured.
    The chief secretary also highlighted the urgent need to raise awareness among farmers about the detrimental effects of burning paddy straw.
    The Supreme Court had on Wednesday pulled up the Punjab and Haryana governments over the non-prosecution of violators found guilty of stubble burning while summoning the state chief secretaries to appear before it on October 23 for an explanation.
    A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Maish pointed out "complete insensitivity" on the part of both states, directing the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to take penal action against both the government officials for the failure to take action against the violators.
    Stubble burning in Haryana and neighbouring Punjab contributes to air pollution in Delhi, especially during the post-harvest season in October and November.
    Paddy farmers set crop residue ablaze to clear their fields to sow wheat, a Rabi crop, as the window between harvesting and sowing is very short.
    Meanwhile, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress general secretary and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja demanded that the government fix MSP for stubble and buy it from farmers.
    Referring to recent directions of the Haryana agriculture department, Hooda slammed the state government for issuing directions to register FIRs against farmers found burning crop residue besides imposing restrictions on selling crops in mandis through the e-kharid portal for the next two seasons.
    He also slammed the directions of making a "red mark entry" in farm records of farmers found burning crop residue.
    Describing the action taken by the government against farmers for burning stubble as condemnable, Hooda said the government should take back this "anti-farmer decision".
    "Farmers take such steps under compulsion. Instead of imposing fines on farmers, filing FIRs against them and red-listing them, the government should work on a solution to this. Many things can be made by buying stubble, such as fuel, bio-thermocol, ethanol, bio-bitumen, pallets, pulp, fertiliser, bricks, and it can also be used for electricity production," Hooda said, as per a statement.
    Hooda claimed that "stubble burning has a very small share in pollution".
    "The real cause of pollution is factories, vehicles and dust. Therefore, the government should dispose of the stubble or buy the stubble from the farmers.
    "At present, the machines that the government is talking about providing for the disposal of stubble are not proving to be effective. The number of machines is also very low. Especially small farmers are unable to use them," he said.
    Machines have to be called in the field several times for a single task. First, different machines have to be called to cut the paddy residue, then to collect it and then to make bales, and after that, it also takes a long time to lift it, he said.
    "By then, the time for sowing the next crop is over. The government needs to pay attention to these practical aspects so that the real problem of the farmer can be understood," he noted.
    In a separate statement, Selja on Sunday said the "first step taken by the BJP government in the state after taking the oath was against farmers".
    "Filing FIRs and imposing 'red entry' for stubble burning to prevent farmers from selling crops for the next two seasons is not only authoritarian but also a direct blow to the livelihood of small farmers.
    "Instead of punishing farmers struggling with financial difficulties, the government should provide a solution. Intimidating farmers will not solve the problem," the former Union minister said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)