In Haryana, 71 of 93 stubble burning cases from Karnal
CHANDIGARH: With the harvest of the early variety of paddy starting in Haryana last month, the state government is keeping a close watch and has registered 93 cases against farmers for burning the crop residue to clear their fields this season. Burning the stubble to ready the fields for sowing wheat is a major cause for air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) at this time of the year.
Paddy is sown in 13.5 lakh acres in 12 of the 22 districts of Haryana. Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Jind, Kaithal and Bhiwani are the major paddygrowing districts. The harvest goes on till mid-November.
This year, fewer incidents of farm fires have been reported. Karnal deputy director, agriculture, Aditya Dabas ,says, “There have been 71 cases of stubble burning in district this year as against 200 by this date last year.”
In 2017, 3,300 cases of stubble burning were detected through satellite mapping by Hisar-based Haryana Space Application Centre (Harsac).
This year, 93 cases have already been reported. Since satellite imagery spotted by Harsac records a 35-acre area as one spot, the number of cases on the ground are more as there could be more fields in the area.
Haryana Pollution Control Board member secretary S Narayanan also expects fewer stubble burning cases this season as compared to previous years. He says officials are inspecting the sites detected by Harsac.
Harsac chief scientist Ramesh Hooda says one case each of stubble burning was reported from Kurukshetra and Palwal on September 30; three cases were detected in Kurukshetra, two in Ambala and one each in Hisar and Yamunanagar on October 1. On Tuesday, nine cases were reported from Karnal, seven from Kurukshetra, two from Ambala and one each from Jhajjar, Kaithal, Sonepat and Palwal.
15 FIRS REGISTERED
Reports from Karnal and adjoining districts show that the ban on combines without straw management system (SMS) has fizzled out, leaving crop residue behind. According to farmers, there are insufficient number of combines with SMS.
In Karnal district, 71 cases of stubble burning have been reported since September 1 and 15 FIRs registered after which a fine of ₹ 2 lakh has been imposed on defaulting farmers.
“The harvesting cost of combines with SMS is more than Rs 3,000 per acre. We can’t delay harvesting. The government should ensure that the cost of combines with SMS is brought down to less than ₹2,000,” says Rishi Pal, a paddy farmer from Sikri.
Kurukshetra deputy director, agriculture Karam Chand says efforts are on to enable all owners of combine harvesters to get the SMS. The SMS has been installed in 100 machines in Karnal and 80 in Kurukshetra district but there is a need to cater to the remaining 500 harvesters.
71 OF 93 CASES OF STUBBLE BURNING IN STATE SINCE SEPTEMBER 1 IN KARNAL DISTRICT