₹2k-cr road map to end stubble burning submitted in apex court

THE COST WILL BE RECOVERED BY IMPOSING CESS ON SALE OF PETROL AND DIESEL IN DELHI, COURT TOLD

NEW DELHI : A ₹2,000-crore road map to end stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana suggests that the government must provide equipment to farmers for free instead of subsidies, and the cost be recovered by imposing cess on sale of petrol and diesel in Delhi.

According to the plan, submitted to the Supreme Court by an a mic us curiae in an ongoing case related to air pollution, the best solution to avoid burning of crop residue is to till the straw back into the field using certain machines.

According to official estimates, over 30 million tonnes of paddy straw are annually generated in Punjab and Haryana, which are later set to fire by farmers to reduce the turnaround time between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat crop.

“The Centre and state governments must provide machines freeofcost to farmers to use. This requireslarge-scalegovernmen- tal procurement of the agricultural equipment, which should be given to every panchayat for common use,” says the report.

It says the most promising technologies in this area are Turbo Happy Seeder (THS), which allows for see ding without till and the Super Straw Management System( S-S MS ), developed by Punjab Agricultural University, which provides forth est raw to be spread on the field. The seasonal burning of paddy straw in Punjab and Ha ryan a aggravates pollution in Delhi every winter. The issue has turned political in the recent years with the neighbouring governments indulging in blame game over it.