Haryana taking steps to control stubble burning: Khattar

Chandigarh, Oct 11 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said that to control stubble burning, the government has implemented a framework that includes in-situ and ex-site crop residue management, besides effective monitoring and enforcement and awareness.

Speaking virtually at a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, on crop residue management and air pollution control in the Delhi-NCR region, Khattar said efforts of the government to decrease the stubble burning graph have yielded positive results.

In Haryana, paddy is grown in about 4,800 villages. The villages have been divided into three colour zones namely green, yellow and red.

Under in-situ management, 23 lakh metric tons (MT) crop residues will be utilised through various machines and decomposers, while 13 MT under ex-situ management. So far, only 83 incidents of stubble burning have taken place.

Farmers are being continuously made aware of the ill-effects of stubble burning, said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister said soon a tender would also be floated for the use of 20 lakh MT of torrefied biomass pellets in the thermal plant.

Working in the direction of finding a permanent solution to stubble management, the state is also making a plan to buy paddy straw at the minimum support price (MSP). This will directly benefit the farmers along with giving them an option of earning additional income, he said.

He said a total of 72,777 machines have been provided to farmers for stubble management in the last four years. This year only 7146 machines have been made available, these include baling unit, super seeder, zero till seed-cum-fertilizer drill, etc.

An incentive of Rs 1,000 per acre to farmers for bailing (in-situ management) is being given by the state along with transportation charges of bales at Rs 500 per acre limited to a maximum of Rs 15,000 to 'gaushalas'.

Special provision for additional top-up assistance of Rs 500 per MT in addition to the current provision of assistance at Rs 500 per MT, thereby a total of Rs 1,000 per MT is being provided to the cluster identified by IOCL for 2G ethanol plant for supply of roughly 2 lakh MT residue management, said the Chief Minister.

While strictly adhering to the orders of the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT) to control air pollution in the NCR region, he said the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has prohibited the manufacturing, sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers except for green crackers.

Lauding Haryana's steps, Union Minister Yadav said the dedicated efforts of the state to decrease the stubble burning graph have certainly yielded positive results.

"Haryana has also laid special emphasis on reducing the increasing pollution levels as a result of which there has been a drastic reduction in the use of diesel run-generators in housing societies of Gurugram," Yadav added.