Stop farm fires or we'll call Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, other states: Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 10

Directing all stakeholders to follow the decisions taken in the meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on stopping farm fires and checking air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court today warned it would summon the Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and other states if desirable progress wasn’t made.

• Editorial: The baler way

A Bench led by Justice SK Kaul asked the Centre and states to find a solution to the problem. “We want farm fires stopped, we want air quality to get better and we want long-term measures for crop replacement…. If you don’t, we will summon the Chief Secretaries and keep them here till they find a solution. I am sure, they will work better in their own offices, so please find a solution,” it said.

Delhi farmer held for burning straw

The Delhi Police have arrested a farmer for allegedly burning stubble on his farmland in Dwarka’s Chawla area. Om Prakash was booked under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and other legal provisions. He later got bail.

The Bench clarified that Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh’s submission on November 7 regarding phasing out paddy cultivation was to encourage less-water guzzling crops and not to abolish minimum support price (MSP) for paddy. The Advocate General said the state government was working on a ‘war footing’ and has brought down the number of farm fires by one-third in the last three days and police officers were taking fire brigades, water dispensers and other materials to extinguish the fires the moment they were detected. As Singh said 51 FIRs had been registered and Rs 1.3 crore realised in fines, the Bench said, “You will register FIRs, but they will be withdrawn. This is again a political issue.”

Suggesting a “carrot and stick” policy, Justice Kaul said, “There must be an incentive for switching over from the variety of paddy currently being cultivated. But, carrot and stick both must be there. There has to be a punitive element in the policy. For instance, anyone who uses farm fires will not get subsidies… something like this will have to be done.”

As Amicus curiae Senior Advocate Aparajitha Singh said the farmers were a sensitive constituency and “no government wanted to touch” them, Justice Kaul responded that “farmers are part of society… They ought to be a little more responsible. And maybe we are also to be responsive to whatever their problems are. It’s a two-way track.”

Asking the Cabinet Secretary to continue to monitor it, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on November 21. On the Delhi Government’s odd-even scheme, the Bench said it only had “minimal impact” in reducing pollution levels. Earlier, the top court had termed it as “optics”.