Chandigarh, Sep 30 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday batted for a sustained campaign to make farmers aware about the paddy straw management to further reduce incidents of stubble burning in the state.
Chairing a meeting for preparations regarding crop residue management, the CM said farmers must be made aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning through a communication campaign, an official statement said.
The chief minister said farmers must be made aware about the provisions of subsidy on straw management equipment. The farmers must also be informed about reduction in cost of managing straw through Custom Hiring Centres.
Mann also advocated establishment of CHC at panchayats and other common places and directed deputy commissioners to launch a vigorous campaign to make farmers aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning.
He said this will help in transforming a war against crop residue burning into a mass movement.
Mann said under the crop residue management scheme 2024-25, the department of agriculture and farmers welfare, Punjab had already called for applications from interested farmers in availing subsidy.
A total of 63,904 number of applications for machinery were received up to June 20, 2024.
As per the demand of the districts, the portal was opened again from September 13, to September 19 and 1.07 lakh cumulative applications have been received till September 19, he said, adding that the state government has set a target of distributing 14,000 machines to individual farmers and establishment of 1,100 CHCs in the districts.
The chief minister said the state government has also launched a ‘Unnat Kisan’ mobile application which is a one-stop platform for farmers to easily avail the crop residue management (CRM) machines ahead of paddy harvesting season-2024.
The mobile application makes the CRM machines more accessible to small and marginal farmers, Mann said, adding that over 1.30 lakh CRM machines have been mapped on the application.
He said the mobile application enables farmers to easily book a machine from the available CHCs in their vicinity, adding that for more facilitation, village level nodal officers will pre-assign machines for the farmers by taking their choice so that farmers can easily book machines.
It is heartening to note that with the usage of the machines and the massive awareness campaign there has been a significant decrease in fire incidents, he said.
There has been a reduction of 30 percent in the number of fire incidents (71,159) in 2022-23 as compared to 76,929 in 2021-22 and a reduction of 26 percent in the number of fire incidents (49,922) in 2023-24 as compared to 71,159 in 2022-23, he said.
Mann said a total reduction of 52 percent in fire incidents was observed in 2023-24 as compared to 2020-21. PTI CHS NB NB
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