In Punjab, the incidents of stubble burning this year have reduced by 30 percent in comparison to the previous year. The claims were made by the state Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Wednesday who asserted that the campaign launched by the State Government to prevent stubble burning during the paddy season has received a huge response.
Hayer said that the State Government, to stop the stubble burning, decided to go in for in-situ and ex-situ management. Besides, a special campaign was started to honour the farmers who did not burn stubble.
Quoting figures, he said that last year in 2021, total 71,304 fire incidents were reported from September 15 to November 30 in the State, while 49,907 fire incidents occurred during the same period this year — recording 30 percent reduction this year.
The Minister said that stubble burning is not the problem of Punjab alone, but of the entire country. “Despite the Union Government's rejection of the State Government's proposal to provide financial assistance to the farmers, the cases of stubble burning have reduced due to the State Government’s efforts,” he said.
He said that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had demanded compensation amount from the Center in which Punjab was also to contribute its share. “I had also put this demand before the Union Minister in the conference of environment ministers of the states. Had there been a positive response from the Centre, there would have been a further decline in stubble burning cases,” he said.
Hayer added that about 10 million straws have been managed through in situ management which is about 25 percent more than the previous year. Similarly, 1.8 million straw has been managed through the ex situ method which is more than 33 per cent over the previous year.
The students of schools, colleges, and universities were also made part of the awareness campaign, and a total of 3,093 camps were organized this year.
Clarifying the cases of fire, he also said that if a farmer sets fire to waste after making straw bales instead of straw, that is also included in the case of fire through satellite image, but it doesn't results in pollution, that is why less pollution was recorded in the cities of Punjab compared to Haryana and other states.
“Punjab has sent the program for the next three years to the Center and the State Government is committed to completely eliminate stubble burning cases in the coming years,” he said.