The Union Cabinet secretariat has urged the Punjab government to stop stubble burning events in the remaining part of the paddy harvesting season.
Punjab accounted for 66% of the total 31,872 incidents of paddy straw burning events reported between September 15 – October 8. Currently, paddy harvesting is completed in 90% and 60% of the rice grown area in Haryana and Punjab respectively.
“State administration of Punjab must take effective actions to stop further stubble burning in the remaining days of this harvest season through fixing responsibility at local administrative level,” according to the note sent to the state government by the Cabinet Secretariat.
In a meeting chaired by the Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday, Haryana government informed that it had initiated measures such as financial assistance of Rs 7000/acre for crop diversification from paddy to other crops, Rs 1000/acre for x-situ management (straw used for power generation and industrial use in paper, sugar and biogas plants) of paddy straw.
The cabinet secretariat also urged Punjab to launch similar schemes like Haryana and announce them immediately so that stubble burning can be prevented in the remaining part of this year and next year.
Wednesday’s meeting on air pollution in north India was attended by chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi besides officials from the environment ministry.
As per the central pollution control board bulletin on Thursday (4 pm), the air quality index (AQI) value in Delhi remained at ‘severe’ level of 437. According to an official note, 38% of current air pollution level in Delhi had been contributed by stubble burning till Wednesday.
Incidents of stubble burning after paddy harvesting in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, since September 15, have declined by 20% to 31,872 till Wednesday compared to the same period last year.
According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi, Punjab has reported 20,978 paddy straw burning incidents which is 35% less than last year while Haryana has reported 1605 incidents so far which less by 38% on year.
The agriculture ministry has stated that Rs 3,333 crore has been released to states under crop residue management scheme so far. Of this, Rs 1531 crore has been released to Punjab and Rs 1006 crore to Haryana.
As per the action plan finalised by Punjab for this year, out of 3.1 million hectare (MH) of paddy area, the straw generation is likely to be around 20 million tonne (MT). Out of these 16 MT of straw is generated from non-basmati rice crop which is not suitable for fodder use because of higher silica content that animals can’t digest.