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Haryana plans to procure paddy stubble at MSP: Khattar
Haryana agriculture department official said Khattar’s move about MSP on paddy straw was at an initial stage. Haryana is paying ₹1,000 per acre to farmers for ex-situ as well as in-situ management of crop residue.
The Haryana government is planning to buy paddy straw at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday informed Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav during a meeting on crop residue management and air pollution control in the Delhi-NCR region, a state government spokesperson said.
A day after the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas reviewed the steps Haryana is taking to contain farm fires, Yadav on Tuesday chaired the meeting on crop residue management which Khattar attended.
Also present among others in this meeting held through video conferencing were ministers and higher officials of various departments from the Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan governments.
In a release, the state government said that the chief minister informed the Union environment minister that “soon a tender would also be floated for the use of 20 lakh MT of torrefied biomass pellets in the thermal plant.”
The spokesperson quoting the chief minister said: “While working in the direction of finding a permanent solution for stubble management, the state government is also making a plan to buy paddy straw at the MSP. This will directly benefit the farmers along with giving them an option of earning additional income.”
Haryana agriculture department official said the chief minister’s move about MSP on paddy straw was at a very initial stage.
Haryana is already paying ₹1,000 per acre to farmers for ex-situ as well as in-situ management of crop residue.
The paddy is grown in about 4,800 villages of the state divided into three colour zones- green, yellow and red.
The state government plans to utilise 23 lakh MT crop residue under in-situ management (through various machines and decomposers) and 13 lakh MT paddy stubble under ex-situ management.
The chief minister said that so far only 83 incidents of stubble burning have taken place in the state.
He said a total of 72,777 machines have been provided to farmers through custom hiring centres and individually for stubble management in the last four years. However, this year 7,146 machines have been made available.
“Haryana has also laid special emphasis on reducing the increasing pollution levels as a result of which there has been a drastic reduction in the use of diesel run-generators in housing societies of Gurugram,” Union minister Yadav said appreciating the steps Haryana has taken for stubble management and improving air quality.
The chief minister said that the deadline given to the brick kilns regarding the use of clean fuel in the Haryana NCR region should be extended till March 31, 2023. Khattar raised the issue of industrial organisations regarding the high cost of using clean fuel and urged the Union minister for making a provision to provide a loan facility from the bank at a viable rate of interest to the industrialist for setting up the technologies required for use of clean fuel.
Khattar also urged Yadav to ensure the CNG-PNG supply in the industrial areas of Haryana NCR region like Israna, Samalkha, Gohana, Jhajjar, etc, at the earliest.
