Death by smoke: Delhi stares at choking smog as crop fires in Punjab set to start
DEFIANT Despite ban, farmers say they have no alternative but to burn the stubble from the first week of October
New Delhi’s hope of breathing some clean air, before the onset of the winter, appears to have been nipped in the bud.
While crop burning has already taken off in Haryana, farmers in Punjab say they have no alternative but to burn millions of tonnes of stubble to prepare their fields for the next sowing season. Stubble burning in Punjab is expected to kick off from the first week of October.
The effect has already started showing in Delhi’s air, which has deteriorated from moderate to poor category on the Air Quality Index over the past 48 hours.
Experts warned that as the incidents of stubble burning shoot up, air quality could deteriorate further.
But farmers in Punjab remained defiant.
“We have no money to manage it (stubble). It’s a costly affair. Why is the government putting the entire burden on farmers? What are they doing?” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, head of the farmer outfit – Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal).
Earlier this week, farmers in Punjab staged a five day sit-in demonstration in Patiala. They have demanded ₹200 bonus above the minimum support price on paddy or ₹1,000 per acre for disposal of the stubble without burning.
Millions of tonnes of stubble is set ablaze in Punjab and Haryana every October after the paddy harvesting season ends despite a ban on the practice. The
CHANDIGARH / NEW DELHI:
north-westerly winds that start blowing this time of the year, carries this pollution load towards Delhi triggering heavy pollution in the national capital.
While Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has appealed to the farmers to refrain from burning the stubble, he has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking funds for the purpose.
The state’s agriculture department said that the expenditure to manage stubble manually in the entire state was ₹700 crore – ₹1,000 per acre and paddy is sown over 70 lakh acres.
The machinery available with Punjab at the moment could only manage stubble from 1.64 lakh hectares. “Farmers don’t have the money to dispose of the stubble in an eco-friendly manner within a window of just 15 days between paddy harvest and wheat sowing (the next crop),” said a Punjab agriculture department official.
Hence the practice is likely to continue this year too, officials apprehend. Experts at the Central Pollution Control Board have warned that with northwesterly winds blowing, unbridled biomass burning at this stage could deteriorate the air quality further.
Farmers, however, claim that it is not possible to stop the practice in one go and needs to be done away with in phases.
“Burning of stubble can’t be stopped immediately. It may be done in phases. For every 80-100 acres paddy sown, machinery such as rotavator, paddy shredder, tractor, ploughs worth ₹15 lakh would be required. To manage stubble over 100 acres, 50 litres of diesel would involve additional cost,” said Nek Singh a farmer from Khokh village near Patiala.
Officials said that at least at least Rs 1,100 crore was required, to manage stubble in Punjab. The state government has been demanding Rs1,600 crore for a permanent solution to the problem. In the absence of funds the government has shown helplessness to deal with the problem.
But experts alleged that the problem also has a political aspect.
Until October 27 last year, the Punjab pollution control board had challaned 736 farmers and fined them ₹30 lakh of which onethird of the amount was recovered. But efforts slowed down as Punjab polls approached and the political parties didn’t want to upset their votebank.
The Punjab government is, however, pinning its hope on biomass plants, which could consume around 44 lakh tonne of paddy stubble. Till date, around seven such power plants are operational with a capacity of 62.5 megawatts, said an agriculture department officer.