857 active farm fire locations detected in Haryana between Sept 15 and Nov 3
As many as 857 active farm-fire locations have been detected across the state between September 15 and November 3, with the maximum number of farm fires being reported from Kaithal district.
As per the official data compiled by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, 158 active fire locations (AFLs) have been reported from Kaithal district, followed by 129 from Kurukshetra, 82 from Karnal and 78 from Ambala.
As many as 67 AFLs have been detected in Fatehabad, 67 in Jind, 45 in Sonipat, 38 in Faridabad, 36 in Palwal, 35 in Sirsa, 34 in Yamunanagar and 31 in Panipat districts.
As many as 23 AFLs have been reported from Hisar, 18 from Panchkula, 12 from Rohtak and four from Jhajjar districts.
No farm fires have been detected in Gurugram, Nuh, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts.
Meanwhile, at a meeting of officials of the departments concerned with as sarpanches, patwaris, panchayat secretaries and nambardars here today, Rohtak Additional Commissioner Narendra Kumar directed them to ensure effective implementation of the Crop Residue Management Scheme, failing which action would be taken against the officials/government functionaries concerned apart from the farmers found involved in burning paddy straw.
"All-out efforts are being made to dissuade the farmers from burning paddy straw, creating awareness and encourage the use of eco-friendly practices at the grassroots level," said Rakesh Kumar, Quality Control Inspector at the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in Rohtak.
Experts have advised the farmers to use bio-decomposers to manage the crop residue in an eco-friendly way instead of causing pollution and damaging the natural ecosystem of their fields by burning it.
"Bio-decomposers are readily available and should be used by the farmers for efficient, cost-effective and eco-friendly management of paddy straw," advised Dr Rajesh Dhankhar, a professor of Environment Science and Dean, Life Sciences at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak.
The professor asserted that the government should also facilitate the farmers in management and transportation of paddy straw, apart from taking strict steps to check massive air pollution caused by cars and other automobiles.
"The diesel and petrol cars should be phased out and the use of vehicles running on CNG and batteries should be promoted," she stated, adding that the installation of efficient and effective chimneys and effluent-treatment plants at the industrial manufacturing units should also be ensured to check environmental pollution.
On the other hand, the farmers' organisations have convened a panchayat at Kurukshetra on Tuesday to register their protest against holding the farmers responsible for air pollution and registering FIRs against them for burning crop residue.
"The government is trying to hide its failure in ensuring the management of crop residue by putting the entire blame on the farmers and treating them as criminals, which is unacceptable," said Sumit Dalal, the general secretary of the state chapter of the All-India Kisan Sabha.
