Acting on the age-old adage of ‘small steps make big difference’, Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker and Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Sunday announced to reward the villages in his constituency who gives up the practice of burning stubble.
Sandhwan, in an apparent attempt to discourage the farmers from burning the paddy residue and to save the environment, took a unique initiative by announcing to give Rs one lakh every village panchayat in his segment where farmers shun the practice. “The amount will be given from my discretionary quota,” he said.
Punjab has witnessed nearly three-fold jump in farm fire incidents in the past 10 days with total number of such cases crossing 2,600-mark, so far, this season. From September 15 till October 10 this year, the State had witnessed 718 stubble burning incidents — a figure which reached 2,625 by October 19. However, the government reports claim that situation looks better this year in comparison to the past two years.
Representing Kotkapura assembly constituency of Faridkot district in 117-member House, Sandhwan said that the burning of paddy stubble has a harmful impact on the environment along with the loss of fertility of the land.
“According to the principles of the Gurbani, people of Punjab love nature the most. As people getting aware about the harmful effects of stubble burning, they are abandoning this trend,” he said, adding that the day is not far when people of the State will completely abandon the practice.
Sandhwan has always been vocal about the cause of environment, and even making continuous efforts to make the people aware about the harmful impacts of stubble burning.
Only the previous week, Sandhwan had honoured state’s farmers who did not burn paddy stubble. In a unique initiative of its kind, 18 farmers from Faridkot district, 13 from Moga, 10 from Sangrur, one from Rupnagar, 10 from Gurdaspur and seven from Ludhiana and Barnala were honoured in a ceremony at Vidhan Sabha.
At the same time, Sandhwan appealed to the farmers to plant more trees for the protection of the environment.
AQI Deteriorating: Mass Awareness Campaign Launched
In the wake of the deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI), Punjab Government has launched a mass campaign to sensitize the farmers on paddy straw burning. Notably, around the month of October and November, Delhi, including other parts of north India, is engulfed in smog resulting from the stubble burning.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has already instructed the officials concerned to conduct awareness campaign to eradicate the problem of stubble burning, asking that the farmers must be sensitized for not burning the paddy straw.
Punjab Generates 20 MT Paddy Straw
As per the data, Punjab annually generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw. The farmers put on fire the paddy straw to clear the agricultural fields for the next crop. The reckless action results in choking of the National Capital Region (NCR) in October and November every year.