Punjab move to curb stubble burning lets 'environment protectors' skip queues

Stop stubble burning and get special treatment in government offices. The Gurdaspur district administration in Punjab has come up with this novel idea to curb crop residue burning, one of the major reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution in the national capital region in October and November.

Farmers who abstain from stubble burning will be recognised as environment protectors ('vatavaran de rakhe') and given appreciation certificates, which will enable them to avoid queues in government offices.

Not just farmers, villages which report zero stubble burning in the harvesting season will also get the 'vatavaran de rakhe' certificates and will be prioritised for any development project.

The window for sowing wheat, a Rabi crop, is very small after the paddy harvest. Hence, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear crop residues and prepare for sowing of the next crop.

With about 31 lakh hectares of paddy-sowing area, Punjab produces around 180 lakh-200 lakh tonnes of paddy straw every year. Of this, 120 lakh tonnes are disposed of through in-situ and ex-situ management methods.

Gurdaspur deputy commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal, the brain behind the 'vatavaran de rakhe' initiative, said the aim is to motivate farmers to refrain from burning paddy stubble, which leads to heavy air pollution.

"The certificate holders will enjoy certain privileges in government offices they visit for any work. They will not have to wait in a queue. If they come to meet me or any government official, they will not have to wait," he said.

If any village reports zero stubble burning, it will receive funding for development projects on a priority basis, the deputy commissioner said, adding that the certificates will be handed out in November.

Aggarwal said he was getting positive responses from farmers for this initiative.

Gurdaspur district alone generates 10 lakh tonnes of stubble, which the administration plans to manage through in-situ (mixing crop residue in fields) and ex-situ (using stubble as fuel) methods. It has identified 55 hotspots and initiated a massive awareness campaign to curb stubble burning.

The district administration has also made efforts to tie up with some companies to collect stubble to be used as fuel. Efforts are also being made to set up stubble pellet units, which can be used by brick kilns for fuel, Aggarwal said.

In the 2022 Kharif season, Punjab had seen a 30 per cent drop in stubble burning over the previous year.

The state agriculture department will provide 24,000 crop residue management machines across the state during the harvest season to check stubble burning. These machines include super SMS, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper, mulcher, smart seeder, zero till drill, surface seeder, super seeder, crop reaper, shrub master for in-situ management, and baler and straw rake for ex-situ management.

Under the Rs 350 crore paddy straw management plan, the state agriculture department is targeting zero-stubble burning incidents in Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Malerkotla districts.