'How can Punjab's pollution reach Delhi?': State agriculture minister on stubble burning; what data reveals

Despite Delhi’s air quality turning ‘hazardous’ on Tuesday, Punjab’s agriculture minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal on Tuesday said his state cannot be blamed for the state of affairs in the National Capital. His remarks came a day after Haryana blamed neighbouring Punjab for poor air quality in the National Capital. “We created awareness among farmers and also took legal action including imposing penalties and registering FIRs. Incidents of stubble burning have reduced significantly in Haryana as compared to Punjab,” Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Monday. Dhaliwal on Tuesday also claimed the state reported fewer incidents of farm fires compared to the same period over the past two years. Punjab on Monday reported 2,131 farm fires, the highest so far this season, with Sangrur alone accounting for 330. Let’s take a closer look: What did Dhaliwal say? Speaking to News18, Dhaliwal said  “Punjab stubble is not the cause of pollution in Delhi. Rohtak, Panipat, Sonepat are the ones contributing to Delhi’s pollution. How can Punjab’s pollution reach Delhi? How can Amritsar’s, and not Panipat’s smoke, reach Delhi.” “Haryana is responsible for Delhi-NCR’s AQI. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hiding facts and number of fire incidents in Haryana," Dhaliwal claimed. As per Hindustan Times, Dhaliwal, in Ludhiana to attend a seminar on women empowerment, also claimed the efforts of the Aam Aadmi Party government in curbing the cases of stubble burning in Punjab were a “success”.

Dhaliwal said the  state has reported fewer cases of stubble burning as compared to the last two years.

“I will present data showing a decline in the cases of farm fires in the state,” he added, without further elucidating. “The recent increase in the cases of stubble burning in Sangrur and other parts of the Malwa region is due to late harvesting of the PUSA-44 variety,” he added. Dhaliwal also blamed the Centre. “The central government backtracked from contributing its share to compensate the paddy farmers as proposed by the Punjab government. Farmers are using the equipment provided by the Punjab government to manage the stubble without burning it on their farms and things will get back to normal in two days,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. What does the data say? According to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data, the cumulative farm fire cases between 15 September and 31 October touched 16,004.

Punjab during the same period in 2021 recorded 13,124 stubble burning incidents while that number was at 29,615 in 2020.

Despite a massive awareness exercise by the state government to dissuade farmers from setting crop residue on fire, the growers continue to burn paddy straw to clear their fields for sowing the next crop — wheat and vegetables. [caption id=“attachment_11550171” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Stubble burning has been decriminalised under the Air Quality Commission Act last year. PTI (Representational Image)[/caption] Of the total 2,131 stubble burning incidents on Monday, Sangrur witnessed the highest number of cases at 330, followed by 250 in Ferozepur, 202 in Patiala, 178 in Bathinda, 174 in Tarn Taran, 126 in Barnala, 123 in Mansa and 112 in Jalandhar. Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the National Capital in October and November. As the window for sowing rabi crop wheat after paddy harvest is very short, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue. Punjab generates around 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually. The state recorded 71,304 farm fires in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019, 50,590 in 2018, 45,384 in 2017 and 81,042 in 2016. What does the law say about offenders? According to Union environment, forest and climate change minister Bhupendra Yadav, stubble burning was been decriminalised under the Air Quality Commission Act. Burning crop residue was earlier a crime under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also notified as an offence under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned crop residue burning in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab in 2015. The tribunal had said anyone caught burning agricultural waste or residue in their fields must pay:

• Rs 2,500 for small land owners with less than two acres
• Rs 5,000 for medium landowners holding land over two acres but less than five acres
• Rs 15,000 for those with over five acres

As per Economic Times, the Centre is slated to  notify a new rule to specify penalties for stubble burning a year after the Commission of Air Quality Management for NCR was backed by a central law. The draft rule to the CAQM Act, 2021, mirrors what the NGT had recommended, as per the newspaper.

However, while farmers will face financial penalties, farmers will not face any criminal cases under the new rules.

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The ₹1 crore hefty fine will also not be imposed, as per the newspaper. Punjab govt suspends four officials The Punjab government on Sunday suspended four officials of the Agriculture Department as stubble burning continued unabated in the agrarian state with 1,761 fresh incidents. The development came as the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution rose to 26 per cent, the highest this year, with forecasters saying that slow wind speed and an increase in stubble burning, especially in Punjab, may make it worse. Dhaliwal, following directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, placed four agriculture officers under suspension with immediate effect for dereliction of duty, an official release said. Mann on Sunday said he has decided to personally undertake review of the efforts in all the districts to check paddy straw burning. He also said that the state government had chalked out a plan to combat the stubble burning menace and directed the officers concerned to implement it in a result oriented manner. As part of the plan, the state government has recently distributed 30,000 machines for in-situ management of paddy straw thereby taking the total number of such machines to 1.20 lakh, said Mann in an official release here.

He also urged people to play a pivotal role in checking environmental pollution in the state.

“Now the time has come when every citizen should support the state government in making the state clean, green and pollution free,” he said, adding that the state government would leave no stone unturned for this noble cause. [caption id=“attachment_11308731” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said he has decided to personally undertake review of the efforts in all the districts to check paddy straw burning.[/caption] The chief minister said the campaign has been initiated across the state against paddy straw burning. Meetings are being held by MLAs and senior officers in sensitive areas, he said. Announcements from Gurdwaras are being made and meetings with Sarpanches and farmer unions are being held to sensitise people against straw burning, he added. In the same manner, extensive involvement of the health and education department is being ensured in the campaign to sensitise people about hazardous efforts of farm fires, he added. The chief minister said he has also asked the departments to ensure encouragement and recognition of panchayats and farmers who do not burn stubble. Mann also asked the officials concerned to provide real-time data dissemination on daily stubble burning incidents for quick action. Punjab Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua took stock of the incidents of stubble burning with secretary in-charges of various districts. Janjua instructed the secretary in-charges to determine the responsibility of ‘nambardars’ (revenue record keepers in villages) to prevent paddy stubble burning incidents, saying that they should be tasked with sensitising farmers against burning crop residue. Accountability of the ‘nambardars’ should be fixed if any fire incidents take place in their concerned villages, the chief secretary said in an official release here. He also directed the officials to pay more attention during the next few days to prevent incidents of stubble burning and control farm fires. “There should be more focus on hotspots of stubble burning and the administration should be more vigilant in the villages, where cases of fire have been reported in the last few years,” Janjua said. Expressing concern over the difference in the number of stubble burning incidents detected through physical and satellite verification, he asked the officials to focus on areas captured by optical satellite data analysis by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC).

He said that stubble burning on government land on lease will not be tolerated at any cost.

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Janjua lauded the Gurdaspur district administration for utilising fire tenders to douse farm fires and instructed all deputy commissioners to rope in fire tenders in their respective districts for the job. Taking stock of the in-situ and ex-situ management of crop residue, the CS directed the officials to explore the possibility of setting up paddy straw bale plants at the cluster level in villages, adding that this will help in immediate management of stubble. He also said that the deputy commissioners should specially honour such farmers at the district level who shun the practice of stubble burning. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.