Despite Central Govt's grant, stubble burning still rampant in Haryana

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, October 27

Even though the Centre had released a total grant of Rs 916.71 crore in five years to the Haryana Government for the crop residue management (CRM), stubble-burning incidents continue in the paddy growing districts of the state causing environmental degradation.

The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department said out of the total grant, the state government had utilised Rs 799.22 crore in five years while Rs 117.49 crore was lying unspent with the state government. The latest data of the Mechanisation and Technology Division of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare revealed in an RTI information that the Centre released Rs 137.84 crore in 2018-19, Rs 192.06 crore in 2019-20, Rs 170 crore in 2020-21, Rs 193.35 crore in 2021-22 and a maximum grant of Rs 223. 46 crore in 2022-23.

However, the farmers are undeterred by the measures, which include both punitive measures and availing machinery for the residue management, as the incidents of stubble burning are being reported in most of the paddy areas in the state.

Today, 67 active fire locations were detected across the state, which took the total number of incidents of paddy residue burning in the state to 1,005.

Fatehabad district continued to get the dubious distinction of having the highest number of stubble burning incidents as 148 cases were detected in the district till today. Other paddy growing districts, including Ambala, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Jind, Hisar and Yamunanagar have been recording a significant number of paddy residue burning incidents this season.

However, the farmers said the lack of adequate machinery for in-situ and ex-situ disposal of the paddy straw had been forcing them to burn the residue in the field. Satyapal Singh, a farmer, said he waited for about one week for the baler machine and had to burn the residue at last as he needed to clear the field for sowing wheat in the rabi season.

A baler machine owner in Fatehabad district, on the condition of anonymity, said his machine was lying unutilised as there was no demand for paddy straw bales in Fatehabad district. The farmers have little option but to burn paddy straw in the absence of options of the ex-situ management. “Most of the varieties cannot be managed in-situ due to long straws/remains, which are difficult to be mixed in the soil. So, the ex-situ management should be promoted,”he said. Fatehabad DC Ajay Singh Tomar while issuing directions to officials to check stubble-burning, said the bales of paddy were in demand at factories in Bhiwani, Jind, Panipat, besides Punjab, where the farmers could sell them.