AAP leader and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said free spraying of the Pusa bio-decomposer will be ensured in Punjab to curb crop residue burning if his party forms the Government in the State.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the main Opposition party in Punjab, where Assembly elections are slated for next year. Farmers cannot be blamed for unrestrained crop residue burning in neighbouring States as it is the Governments there which have failed to provide an alternative, Rai said.
The share of farm fires in Delhi’s pollution rose to a three-year high of 48 per cent on Sunday, and on Monday, Government agencies reported 5,450 farm fires, the highest this season, in the neighbouring States of the national Capital.
“Farmers are not at fault. Any statement against them does not make any sense. The Governments had to provide a solution. We have shown (how stubble burning can be curbed) in Delhi. Other States lack the will to do it,” the Environment Minister said”We will ensure free spraying of bio-decomposer in every field in Punjab if we form a Government in the State ... Like we did in Delhi,” Rai told reporters in response to a question.
He said that Punjab, which generates around 20 million tonnes of paddy straw annually, will become free from crop stubble burning if the AAP forms a Government in the State. The Delhi Government has made arrangements for free spraying of Pusa bio-decomposer, a microbial solution which can turn stubble into manure, over 4,300 acres belonging to 844 farmers in Delhi.