Defiant farmers unite to dare govt’s stubble burning ban
KARNA L: Angry over the state government’ s directions for strict action against those found burning pad dy stubble, farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) have decided to challenge the authorities.
The defiant farmers have decided to hold protests in all districts of the state and continue with the practice of burning paddy residue. To send out a strong message to the authorities, the farmers on Monday took out a protest march in Ladwa of Kurukshetra district. They had also brought along the pad dy residue asking the authorities to find buyers for the crop waste.
“If the government takes action against us for burning pad dy residue, we will show them the power of farmers. If they dare to arrest even a single farmer for the offence, thousands of us will court arrest in their support,” said BKU state president Ratan Mann addressing the protesting farmers.
“We decided to hold a protest against the black laws being imposed on farmers. We will challenge this as we have no alternative ,” Ratan Mann said.
The farmers on Monday changed their plan to burn the residue during after a heavy police deployment at the protest site. Farmers in neighbouring Punjab are already holding protests against the ban on stubble burning.
The farmers alleging that the government’s decision has also resulted in labour shortage as they are not using combine harvesters, resulting in a rise in demand for manual harvesting.
The Rashtriya Kisan Mahsanghh as also decided to challenge the ban order and asked the farmers to get united. “We are against the ban as the government has failed to provide any alternative. Arrest sand fines will not help until the government comes out with a permanent solution to the problem ”, said Rashtriy aK is an Mahsangh member Gurnam Singh Chaduni.
However, the government assured that they are providing subsidies on the happy seeders and straw reapers, but the farmers alleging that the announcements are only in papers and there are no straw reapers even in their nearby villages and they can not wait for more as they have
prepare the fields for next crops.
Following pressure from the National Green Tribunal( N GT ), the Haryana government had directed the district administrations to impose Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) to ensure ban on burning of paddy straw. Even WhatsApp numbers have been started to file complaints. As many 18 farmers were booked in Karna lund er Section 188 of the Indian Pen al Code (IPC) and imposed ₹2,500 fine per acre for violation. The state government also announced ₹50,000 incentive to a village panchayat for not burning the waste.
Ku ru ks eh tr a deputy commissioner Sumedha Kat aria said, “Since Delhi is hosting the FIFA U -17 World Cup, we appeal to the farmers to avoid stubble burning for sake of India’s reputation. We have called a meeting of ga us hal a committees to use the paddy waste as fodder.”