Stubble fires in Haryana down 31% compared to last yr: Data

Haryana government’s target is to contain the crop residue burning cases up to 3,000 during the current paddy harvesting season

: From 15,686 farm fires recorded in 2016 and brought down to 4,202 in 2020, the Haryana government’s target is to contain the crop residue burning cases up to 3,000 during the current paddy harvesting season, it is learnt.

Stubble fires in Haryana down 31% compared to last yr: Data

Last year, when the cultivators were agitating against the farm laws and the government was on the backfoot and reluctant to take tough decisions against farmers, the number of farm fires in Haryana had increased by 40% over the previous year.

In fact, it was for the first time since 2016 that the stubble burning incidences went up from 6,364 in 2019 and 4,202 in 2020 to 6,987 in 2021, official data indicates.

Officials say it is in this backdrop that the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) in a recent review meeting asked Haryana government to reduce farm fires by 50% in comparison to 2020 and not 2021.

As per the official data, till Thursday evening, the number of farm fires in Haryana in comparison to last year had dipped by 31%. The cumulative number of stubble burning cases till November 3 in the state was 2,377 against 3,438 over the corresponding year last year.

On Friday, Haryana recorded 63 fresh paddy stubble burning cases, pushing the total cases to 2,440 against 3,666 total cases recorded on the same day in 2021 (33% dip over last year).

This year, the paddy cultivation in Haryana was spread across 34.35 lakh acre as basmati was grown in over 18 lakh acres and non-basmati varieties in 16.26 lakh acres. The estimated total quantity of straw being generated is about 70 lakh metric tonnes, officials said, adding that since basmati is harvested manually, the total crop waste to be managed was expected to be around 40 lakh MT.

Hence, the agriculture department has set the target to tackle 23 lakh MT stubble with in-situ management (machinery/decomposer) and 13 lakh MT stubble with ex-situ management (in industries).

“Till November 3, as many as 1,601 challans were issued against the farmers found burning the crop residue and ₹ 37.85 lakh fine was imposed,” JP Dalal, agriculture and farmers welfare minister said, asking Punjab to follow Haryana’s footsteps in dealing with paddy stubble and give incentives to the farmers.

Haryana sharpens attack on Punjab

The blame game between Haryana and Punjab over air pollution due to stubble burning continued. Haryana on Friday again retaliated, saying that the air pollution problem in the Delhi-NCR region has compounded with Punjab not taking effective steps to stop the farm fires.

After chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar opened the front against Punjab on air pollution this week, it was for the third time in the past five days that Haryana locked horns with Punjab over the issue.

“We have been asking Punjab to give Haryana its rightful share of river water, but Punjab has been giving us air pollution,” quipped JP Dalal, Haryana’s agriculture and farmers welfare minister, saying the situation in the NCR was worrisome.

The minister said the crop residue burning cases in Punjab had increased by 18% over the last year till November 3, while in Haryana, the farm fires had been brought down by at least 31%.

“Punjab should stop blaming Haryana. Punjab did not give incentives to its farmers otherwise Punjab farmers also would have desisted from burning stubble. Haryana has contained the farm fires through numerous pro-farmer steps and monetary benefits given to the farmers for the stubble management,” Dalal said, asking AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to stop blaming Haryana for the ills afflicting Delhi and Punjab.

He said that Kejriwal frequently makes false statements on Haryana, but the truth is that Haryana has made tireless efforts to reduce the incidents of stubble burning.

“Unfortunately, Kejriwal always holds the Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi accountable for any issue that arises in Delhi. Kejriwal’s attitude is such that he can even claim that people in Delhi have the false illusion regarding pollution. Kejriwal earlier used to speak about farmers of both Punjab and Haryana states that they burn stubble, but now he only blames Haryana, which is absolutely unfair. The truth is completely opposite... The incidents of stubble burning have increased by 20% in Punjab, due to which pollution has increased in Haryana,” Dalal said.