ANTIPOLLUTION PLANS FOR NCR GET SUPPORT
~1,000 CR
BUDGET Special scheme to help govts in checking stubble burning by farmers NEW DELHI: PACKAGE TO STOP CROP BURNING
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced a special scheme to support the governments of Delhi and neighbouring states in tackling high levels of air pollution.
“Air pollution in the DelhiNCR region has been a cause of concern. A special scheme will be implemented to support the efforts of the governments of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to address air pollution and subsidise machinery required for in-situ management of the crop residue,” Jaitley said in his budget speech 2018-19.
In the past few years, DelhiNCR has experienced alarmingly poor air quality, especially in winters when farmers in northern Indian states, specially Punjab and Haryana, burn crop stubble. Every winter as the air quality dips, states resort to blame game with Delhi pointing fingers at the two agrarian states.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had in November 2015 banned crop residue burning in five states — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi – but farmers continue with their quick-fix disposal method. Punjab in October 2017 demanded subsidy to the tune of R2,000 crore from the Centre as aid for farmers to look for alternatives to stubble burning. An estimated 35 million tonnes of crop residue is set on fire in Punjab and Haryana alone to make room for the winter crop.
Even though any particular amount was not mentioned in the budget on Thursday, the Centre had in January told the Supreme Court that R1,000 crore will be earmarked to tackle the problem of stubble burning, among other things, in Delhi’s neighbouring states.
Subsidies will be provided to farmers to purchase machines like happy seeder and rotavators to deal with farm residue in a manner that does not require it to be burnt. As per recommendations, a flat subsidy of 50% of purchase price will be given through a direct benefit transfer mechanism to individual farmers willing to buy the machines. In case of cooperative societies, farmer groups or gram panchayats, a subsidy of 75% of the cost of the machinery will be provided.
“The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) had looked at the report. The R1,000-crore plan to provide subsidy is a good step but needs to be implemented quickly. The process has to be expedited and the government needs to make sure that by next winter these machinery are in place,” EPCA member Sunita Narain said.
The Delhi government wants to wait and see how much they actually get from the special scheme.
“It is too early to comment. Let them announce the total allocations to states and let us wait till December when we will need to take measures to prevent crop burning,” Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said.
On Monday, the Economic Survey had suggested detailed subsidy plan to stop stubble burning Centre has decided to provide subsidies to farmers to purchase machines like happy seeder and rotavators
These cut and lift rice straw and simultaneously sow wheat into the bare soil
Machinery would be supplied to the farmers by end of September before harvesting of kharif crops
measures to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR, including a series of steps to handle the problem of stubble burning in states around Delhi. It had suggested conversion of agricultural waste into usable fodder or biofuels to tackle burning of crop residue, one of the major causes of pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.
The survey also identified vehicular emissions and construction activity as causes of high pollution levels in the NCR. It had recommended solutions such as congestion pricing for A flat subsidy of 50% of purchase price will be given through a direct benefit transfer mechanism to individual farmers willing to buy the machines
In case of cooperative societies, farmer groups or gram panchayats, a subsidy of 75% of the cost of the machinery will be provided. vehicles, expanding and improving the public bus system to reduce private vehicle use, phasing out of old vehicles, and accelerating Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) emissions norms due to be in place from April 2020.
“Air pollution is a concern for all, especially Delhi NCR and beyond. Special scheme with time-bound objective to strategic in situ control of air pollution would definitely help check dispersal of pollutants,” retired Central Pollution Control Board air laboratory chief The total area of cultivation in Punjab and Haryana is 44 lakh hectares
The production of paddy straw has been around 28.5 million tonnes, of which 20.1 million tonnes are burnt by farmers to clear the agricultural land for Rabi crops Dipankar Saha said.
Experts, however, feel more needs to be done on the part of the Union government.
“Air pollution is a national crisis and requires support for wider mix of solutions in all critically polluted areas. The budget doesn’t realise the larger problem of the air pollution and the need for a swift transition to cleaner fuel like gas and a more organised public transport system across India,” Narain, who also heads the Centre for Science and Environment, said.