Decide on Punjab’s Rs 1,200 cr demand to curb farm fires in 2 wks: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to take an “appropriate decision” in two weeks on the Punjab Government’s demand for Rs 1,200 crore for payment of incentives to farmers to dissuade them from stubble burning that turns Delhi-NCR into a virtual gas chamber between October and December.

“We direct the Centre to immediately look into the proposal submitted by Punjab for the release of additional funds so that provisions for making available tractors with drivers and diesel can be made to those farmers whose holding is less than 10 hectares,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice AS Oka said in its October 23 order.

As the Bench pulled up the governments of Punjab and Haryana for not prosecuting all errant farmers and letting them off with small fines, Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh emphasised that penalising farmers wasn’t a solution to the problem as most of them were marginal farmers who needed to be given incentives.

Noting that paddy was grown on 32 lakh hectares in Punjab, the state government told the top court that an amount of Rs 2,000 crore was needed as crop residue management incentive payment (CRMIP) to dissuade farmers from stubble burning. While Rs 400 crore each is proposed to be shelled out by the governments of Punjab and Delhi, it wanted the Centre to provide Rs 1,200 crore. In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Punjab Government said that a majority of the marginal farmers found it difficult to use the crop residue management machines because of the high cost involved. Earlier, in a letter dated October 19 and addressed to the Union Agriculture Secretary, Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha said the state had proposed to pay Rs 2,500 per acre to farmers as CRMIP.

“This incentive will help farmers, particularly the marginal ones, meet the expenditure to be incurred on operating crop residue management machinery i.e. hiring of tractor, cost of diesel and manpower, etc,” the letter read.

The Punjab Government’s views on the issue were not appreciated by the Centre, which said the guidelines on crop residue management did not have any provision for such an expenditure. However, now the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to take an appropriate decision on the proposal submitted by the state government in two weeks.