Haryana and adjoining state Punjab are eyeball to eyeball over the issue of stubble burning and blame game has started for last many days. Amid this, it came to fore that the incidents of farm fire are much higher in Punjab as compared to Haryana. The recent satellite images of stubble burning and arson incidents in northern India issued by a recent report released by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shown a steep decline in farm fire incidents in Haryana. NASA clearly shows that in the last 24 hours, farm fire incidents in Haryana have come down even further, while the live images of stubble burning can be seen in three-fourths of the area of neighboring state Punjab. The official data released by NASA certainly indicates that cases of stubble burning have decreased in Haryana while the incidents of stubble burning are continuously increasing in Punjab.
As per the data released for the last 24 hours, very few incidents of stubble burning have been reported in Haryana. This clearly highlights the fact that Haryana Government’s stubble management programme has been a success. The State government’s data also shows that the incidents of stubble burning in Haryana have come down by 25 per cent this year while in Punjab these incidents have increased by 20 per cent. The spokesperson said not only has the Haryana government launched an awareness campaign for the farmers to make them aware of the ill effects of stubble burning, but a provision of giving Rs 1000 per acre incentive has been made for not burning stubble and for its proper management.
In a bid to control the incidents of stubble burning Manohar Lal- led Haryana government is taking concrete steps which reflected in the report. Rs. 50 per quintal incentive amount and subsidy on straw management equipment is also given to the farmers for making stubble bales. Farmers are being given a 50 per cent subsidy on equipment for crop residue management and an 80 per cent subsidy on custom hiring centres. If any farmer takes the stubble bales to the Ethanol Plant set up at Karnal and Panipat, he is given an incentive of Rs. 2000 per acre.
Furthermore, if any farmer brings the stubble to Gaushalas, then an incentive of Rs. 1500 is given to him. Not only this, the government also gives up to 10 lakh rupees to the Panchayat for not burning stubble in the red zone area. Last year, the government made a provision of Rs 216 crore for stubble management. The state government has given more than 72,000 machines to the farmers for crop residue management. The government has set a target of taking this to 80000 this year so that farmers can manage maximum crop residues at the ground level. Besides this, in Haryana itself, 24 types of industries have given consent to the government to buy stubble, under which command areas will be opened in every district and stubble will be procured through those command area centres.
