Wary of farmers’ wrath, govt not to burn its fingers

CHANDIGARH/PATIALA/FATEHGARH SAHIB: With farmers in Punjab already up in arms over various issues, the state government seems wary of dealing sternly with violators of rules banning paddy stubble burning to clear their fields for sowing wheat. Despite the widespread concern over pollution caused by stubble burning, the menace continues this year without any hindrance from the officials as they fear that already agitated farmers may turn their ire towards them.
Farmers in Punjab have been staging protests across the state for the past more than a month demanding adequate compensation for cotton crop damaged in widespread whitefly attack and higher rates for basmati crop. Sources said the government doesn’t want to add fuel to the fire by cracking down on the farmers violating the rule now.
It is not just those driving past paddy fields in the countryside who run into clouds of smoke these days, the menace of stubble burning is engulfing urban areas across Punjab in the evening hours with a thick cover of smog. Despite growing concerns last season over farmers resorting to burning of paddy straw that not just leads to pollution but also affects health of their own soil, the practice is continuing even as the state agencies prefer to be mute spectators.
While the state agriculture department is content with giving subsidies on equipment to effectively clear paddy straw, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has gone slow in taking punitive action against the violators. If 53 farmers were identified and booked in 2013 (under Section 144 of CrPC), the number dipped to mere 16 in 2014 and no farmer has been penalized by the board so far this year.
Sources said given the way farmers in the state had been up in arms over a series of issue pertaining to paddy procurement, potato prices and sugarcane collection in the recent months, there had been no full-throttle enforcement of the existing laws to check violators among paddy growers.
When contacted, Punjab director of agriculture Gurdial Singh said the focus has been on popularizing equipment such as 'happy seeders' for sowing wheat in the fields after harvest of paddy. Besides, straw balers were being promoted to bind the straw and supply it to small bio-mass power plants and for co-generation of power by the sugar mills. However, despite subsidy to the tune of 50%, the high cost of the happy seeder at Rs 1.15 lakh remains a major hurdle for widespread use.
Meanwhile, Babu Ram, member secretary, PPCB, admitted that no farmer had been booked for stubble burning this year so far. “There has been considerable decline in pollution levels due to stubble burning over the years due to a combination of steps taken by the state government. Already, there are seven bio-mass plants and 13 more are in the pipeline,” he said.
“There was a time when the presence of particulate matter (PM) would touch 700pm in some areas of the state due to this problem. But now it usually hovers around 300pm,” he added.
However, farmers have their own rationale to justify the practice. “The duration of time to clear the fields is limited and unless there is easy availability of hi-tech machinery to clear the residue, farmers will have no option but to burn it,” said Amarjit Singh, a farmer from Bahadurgarh village in Patiala.