Chandigarh Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered the agriculture department to work out the modalities for the implementation of the Supreme Court orders on providing financial assistance to small and marginal farmers, who had not burnt any paddy stubble.
The CM also ordered stringent action against those found violating the ban on stubble burning, in line with the apex court’s directives on the penalisation of such farmers. He chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the implications of the SC orders, which would put an additional burden on the cash strapped state, already reeling under fiscal problems in the GST regime. He emphasised the central government would have to support the state for a permanent resolution of the problem.
Farmers who had refrained from burning paddy straw despite the financial problems they were facing needed to be incentivised and encouraged, said Amarinder, asking the agriculture and finance departments to take immediate steps to ensure the implementation of the SC orders on providing compensation to such farmers.
The CM also asked the finance department to ensure requisite funds for necessary payment to farmers, and asked the police to crack down on all offending farmers, and identify those who needed to be penalised for indulging in burning of paddy straw, contributing to the severe air pollution in the state and neighbouring regions.
{{/usCountry}}The CM also asked the finance department to ensure requisite funds for necessary payment to farmers, and asked the police to crack down on all offending farmers, and identify those who needed to be penalised for indulging in burning of paddy straw, contributing to the severe air pollution in the state and neighbouring regions.
{{/usCountry}}The meeting was informed that more than 900 FIRs had, so far, been registered against erring farmers, mostly in Muktsar and Bathinda, with some cases reported in Sangrur.