To douse the smoldering problem of stubble burning in the State, the Punjab Government on Thursday announced Rs1 crore for the district and Rs1 lakh for the village which abstains from straw burning.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that the decision of giving incentive has been consciously taken to curb the practice of stubble burning which, he said, was not only health hazardous but equally detrimental to the fertility of soil. Addressing a gathering at a workshop jointly organised by Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Central Pollution Control Board and Punjab Pollution Control Board in Chandigarh, Badal said, “Merely resorting to punitive measures to end this curse would not yield any positive results unless people are properly motivated to give up this anti-environmental and pollution causing phenomena.”
Chief Minister also appealed to the Centre, agriculture scientists, environment experts and farmers to join hands for putting an end to this unhealthy practise with “multi-dimensional” problems.
At the same time, he also called upon the farmers not to go for a “mad race” for sowing one crop after another just to reap maximum profits. Badal also called upon the Centre to come out with a farmer-friendly scheme to effectively cope up with the menace of stubble burning by giving liberal incentives on farm equipments and machinery. Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change secretary Ashok lavasa lauded the initiatives of the state government for creating awareness among the farmers about the adverse impact of stubble burning.
He also assured the Chief Minister of extending all possible help and assistance to the State in its endeavour to make Punjab a “stubble burning free” State. Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal said the State has already taken a lead in making judicious use of its bio-mass by using it as a feed in bio-mass based power projects, fuel in form of briquettes in the brick kilns, inputs for paper making and others.