UP sees max drop of 75%, Haryana 48%, Punjab 60%
Cases of stubble burning in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana reported in the first 9 days of October have registered a sharp decline of 58 per cent this year compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s data, UP has recorded the maximum decline of 75 per cent, Haryana 48 per cent and Punjab 60 per cent from October 1 to 9 this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. Normally, rampant stubble burning is common during this time of the year.
Amid sharp reduction in crop residue burning, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday claimed there will be further decline in cases of stubble burning as the Centre is subsidising machinery required for the crop residue management. The encouraging drop may bid well for Delhi and the National Capital Region.
The Ministry has released Rs 273.80 crore to Punjab, Rs 192.06 crore to Haryana and Rs 105.29 crore to Uttar Pradesh to check stubble burning which is a major cause of air pollution in the national Capital.
As per the Ministry’s data, as many as 165 cases of stubble burning have been detected in Punjab between October 1 and 9 this year as compared to the 405 cases last year during the same period.
Similarly, 193 cases of stubble burning were detected in Haryana as compared to 370 cases in 2018 during the same period. In UP, 49 cases were detected as compared to 196 last year.
Sources in the Ministry said that monitoring of stubble burning is being done through satellites, Sumi and NPP, in three States. On October 8, satellites detected 146 cases in these three States.
Of them, 59 were detected in Punjab, 69 in Haryana and 18 in Uttar Pradesh. In Punjab most of the burning was detected in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts. In Haryana, burning was scattered across Kaithal, Karnal and Kurushetra.
“Over all, the total cases were recorded 58 per cent less than in 2018 till date,” the officials said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the function on Friday, Tomar claimed the scheme is running successfully and helped reduce the stubble burning cases. “The burning will further come down this year,” he said.
Sources said that a centralised control system has been set up to keep an eye on the stubble burning in four States. The burning is being monitored through several satellites.
Due to measures taken by the Centre and States, there was 42 per cent reduction in crop residue burning in North India in 2018 compared with that in 2016. Stubble burning is a common practice followed by farmers to prepare fields for sowing of wheat in November as there is little time left between the harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat.
Under the Centrally-sponsored scheme, the Ministry had released Rs 269.38 crore, Rs 137.84 crore and Rs 148.60 crore, respectively, to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, respectively in 2018-19. Due to this, more than 4,500 villages in Punjab and Haryana were declared as zero stubble burning villages during 2018 as not a single crop burning incident was reported. The scheme is being implemented by farm research body ICAR through 60 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Punjab (22), Haryana (14), Delhi (1) and UP (23). Besides this scheme, separate funds are being allocated to the States for crop residue management under the Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanisation by the Union Agriculture Ministry.
The State Governments have also been directed to use Rs 4,000 per hectare from the funds available for demonstration of machines under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation for demonstration of straw management machinery at farmers’ fields.
A Central scheme was launched for two years till 2019-20 for these four States/regions to facilitate buying or hiring of crop residue management machineries at a subsidised rates and for creating awareness among farmers.