PROVIDE MACHINERY AT REASONABLE LOAN RATES

With reference to the news item, ‘Punjab records highest farm fires in a day’ ( November 5), the statistics are alarming. Stubble burning has resulted in smog and pollution for years on end, but no serious steps have been taken to check it. Punjab and Haryana have been mute spectators due to the massive vote bank which the farming community constitutes. The machinery to cut crop residue, transport and dispose it is expensive. The government must ensure adequate facilities are provided to farmers to dissuade them from burning stubble. Colonel R D Singh (retd), Ambala