Centre aims to work towards achieving zero stubble burning in current season says Narendra Singh Tomar
Apart from air pollution, stubble burning also creates a detrimental effect on
farm land by adversely affecting soil health and its fertility: Tomar
Inter-Ministerial Meeting on issues of management of crop residue burning held
A high level inter-Ministerial meeting was held yesterday under
the co-chairmanship of Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra
Singh Tomar and Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender
Yadav to review the preparedness of the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and NCT
of Delhi in preventing paddy stubble burning in the current season.
The high-level meeting was attended by Surya
Pratap Shahi Agriculture Minister, Government of UP, Gurmeet Singh Khudian,
Agriculture Minister of Punjab, Jai Prakash Dalal, Agriculture Minister of
Haryana and Gopal Rai, Environment Minister of NCT of Delhi. Senior officers of
Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, Government of India and from
the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi and ICAR were also
present.
During the meeting, the States presented their
action plan and strategies for preventing stubble burning in the current
season. The States were advised to utilize the funds provided for crop residue
management, make Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery available well before harvesting
season and carry out Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities
in collaboration with ICAR and other stakeholders to bring awareness amongst
farmers against paddy stubble burning.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister
for Environment stated that efforts to prevent paddy stubble burning for the
last five years is bearing good results. Due to the concerted efforts of
agencies like Commission for Air Quality Management, burning instances in the
States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi has come down.
There is a need to encourage ex situ management of paddy straw which will
provide raw materials to the user industries like Power, bio mass etc.
The Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar
congratulated all the stakeholders for the seriousness that they have shown in
addressing the issue of paddy stubble burning. He observed that due to the
efforts of all the stakeholders, the events of paddy stubble burning are
continuously coming down. However, paddy stubble burning is not just related to
pollution of Delhi and its adjoining areas. It is also creating a
detrimental effect on the farm land by adversely affecting the soil health and
its fertility. Hence, our efforts have to be both for fighting air
pollution in Delhi and for protecting the soil health, thereby protecting the
ultimate interests of our farmers.
The aim in the current season is to work
towards achieving zero stubble burning. The Government of India is providing
sufficient funds under CRM scheme to the four States and they must ensure
proper utilization by providing machine to the farmers in a timely manner.
There is a need for proper monitoring at the State level to ensure proper
utilization of the machines and the use of bio-decomposer. The focus should
also shift on using paddy straw for commercial purpose by way of ex situ
management. Awareness creation to prevent stubble burning through various
mechanisms needs to be stepped up. Agencies like Agriculture Technology
Management Agencies (ATMA) need to be used to their fullest potential.