Chandigarh, Oct 31 (PTI) Farm fire incidents in Haryana are down by nearly 25 per cent compared to last year and much lesser than Punjab, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said here on Monday.
He also said an expert committee has been formed to look into the proposition of buying paddy straw from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) in a bid to find a permanent solution to the stubble burning issue.
Speaking at a press conference here, Khattar said while Punjab reported 13,873 farm fire incidents from September 15 to October 30, Haryana had seen only about 10 per cent of such cases.
“If we compare with Punjab, it is 10 per cent. The farm fire incidents in Haryana have reduced this year. As against 2,561 incidents reported (in Haryana) last year, this year, there were 1,925, a drop of nearly 25 per cent. As against this, Punjab has reported 13,873 incidents,” Khattar said.
The National Green Tribunal has also been giving directions to Punjab from time to time on the stubble burning issue, he said.
“Recently, I had spoken about MSP for stubble. For this, we have formed a committee which will give its recommendations. We will take further step once it committee gives its recommendations,” Khattar said.
The committee will not be limited to MSP, but will also look into the entire gamut of the stubble burning issue, he added.
State director general for agriculture will be the committee’s chairman while DG of Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency will be one of its members.
The panel comprises three experts — Mukesh Jain, director, Northern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Baldev Dogra, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, Haryana Agriculture University and Jagminder Nain, joint director, Agriculture.
The Haryana chief minister said pollution was not limited to an area or a state and that its adverse impact were felt in “Haryana, Chandigarh and in Delhi, Gurugram”.
On the approximately 60 lakh MT crop residue generated from stubble burning, Khattar said a good part of it can be put to use in various industries and that 24 industries had expressed interest in buying the stubble.
A tender is also being floated for manufacturing pellets from paddy stubble and these will be used in thermal plants, he added.
Khattar said his government had taken several steps to bring down paddy stubble burning, which include incentives to farmers, running awareness campaigns, providing machinery for stubble management and even adopting strict measures such as lodging FIRs and imposing fines on violators.
A framework to control stubble burning has also been implemented and this includes in-situ and ex-situ crop residue management, effective monitoring, enforcement and wide reach of information, he said. PTI SUN CJ CJ CJ
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