As stubble burning is back in the northern States posing a major public health hazard, the Centre on Friday prepared a one-time financial aid to individuals and companies to set up torrefaction (to dry by subjection to intense heat) and pelletisation (the act of shaping into pellets) plants to ensure a regular supply of paddy straw for co-firing in thermal power plants and industries.
These plants will help resolve the problem of stubble burning and generate income for farmers, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at a workshop on “Guidelines for grant of one-time financial support for establishment of pelletisation and torrefaction plants to promote utilisation of paddy straw”.
The Minister said `50 crore has been earmarked for the scheme which is generated from the environment protection charge being collected by the Central Pollution Control Board.
“It’s perhaps partly our action and god’s blessing that Delhi’s air quality is still in acceptable category this season. Now we are trying to see how can waste be converted to wealth. I have held a number of meetings on air pollution control in winter,” said the Union Environment Minister.
All neighbouring State Governments have been very cooperative so far,” said Yadav, hopeful of the new scheme aimed to cut down pollution due to stubble burning.
Along with unfavourable meteorological conditions, paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major reason behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. Farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue before cultivating wheat and potato.
The Punjab Pollution Control Department’s latest data shows that a total of 650 field fire incidents were reported between September 15 and October 6 this year, more than double the cases (320) recorded during the same period last year. This year, the border district of Amritsar reported 419 cases followed by 109 cases in Taran Taran. In Haryana too, 48 cases of field fires have been reported so far, against 24 last year.
The cases are set to spike after October 15, said the officials. According to Government data, Punjab and Haryana generate around 27 million tonnes of paddy straw a year, of which around 6.4 million tonnes is not managed.
Though there is a demand for biomass by power plants, “the supply is on the lower side ... Due to slow/limited growth of aggregators/suppliers”, the Government noted.
“Therefore, there is a need to facilitate setting up of pelletisation plants so that paddy straw is utilised and the issue of crop burning and pollution is further addressed,” read the guidelines prepared by the Union Environment Ministry.
Financial support of Rs 14 lakh per tonne per hour plant production capacity (subject to a maximum of Rs 70 lakh per proposal) will be given for setting up new pelletisation units, according to the guidelines.
Similarly, Rs 28 lakh per tonne per hour plant production capacity will be provided for torrefaction plants, subject to a total financial support of Rs 1.4 crore per proposal. The government has earmarked Rs 50 crore for utilisation under the guidelines.
The financial assistance can be availed by individuals and companies setting up new plants and units using only paddy straw generated in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
To address the issue of air pollution and to reduce the carbon footprint of thermal power plants and industries, the Government has been offering various measures, like providing money for in-situ machines, setting up ethanol plants and even mandating firing of 5 to 10 per cent of biomass along with coal.
In 2021, the average contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 level in November was 14.6 per cent, according to data from the Government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research). This could come down drastically if stringent measures are taken, say the officials.