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Paddy residue management: Now contribute 40% share to get funds, Centre asks Punjab
The Centre has asked Punjab to contribute 40% of its share to get funds for in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy residue
Chandigarh
The Centre has asked Punjab to contribute 40% of its share to get funds for in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy residue. The state government has sought ₹350 crore from the Centre this year for paddy residue management after harvesting in October and November, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Paddy residue management holds significance as stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major reason behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. Farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue as the window between paddy harvesting and sowing of the next crop is short.
In-situ management means mixing crop residue into the soil and not setting it ablaze whereas in ex-situ management, the paddy straw is used as fuel in brick-kilns, boilers and thermal power generating plants.
According to officials, of the ₹350 crore sought from the Centre, the Punjab government will have to contribute ₹140 crore for crop residue management.
“We have to see how the state government spares funds,” said Punjab agriculture director Gurvinder Singh, adding that the state government has written to the Centre release 100% grant.
The Centre will not provide funds if Punjab fails to make 40% contribution, said officials familiar with the matter.
As per a plan drawn by the state government, 30,000 subsidised machines such as super straw management system, happy seeders, super seeders, paddy straw choppers, reversible ploughs, zero till drill, balers, rakes and shrub master, smart seeders and spatial seed drills, crop reapers and self-propelled reaper-cum-binders will be given to the farmers for in-situ management this year.
While an individual farmer will be offered a subsidy of 50%, custom hiring centres in villages will be offered a rebate of 80% per machine, according to an official of the agriculture department.
During the past five years, the Centre had sanctioned ₹1,370 crore for crop residue management and has not sought state’s share.
The Centre released ₹269 crore, ₹273 crore, ₹272 crore, ₹331 crore and ₹225 crore from 2018 to 2022, say officials.
The Punjab government was rapped last year for failing to control the farm fires despite support from the Centre for purchase of machines for in-situ management and run awareness campaign.
The distribution of subsidised machines ran into a trouble after the enforcement directorate pointed flaws in the system. So far in five years, 1.17 lakh machines have been given to the farmers of which 11,425 were found untraced last year. But in an audit conducted by the finance department team, no irregularity was found.
In Punjab, paddy is sown over 29-30 lakh hectares, of which the premium aromatic quality basmati is sown over 5 lakh hectares. Along with paddy, 19.7 million tonnes of straw is also produced, which includes 2.7 million tonnes from basmati.
Basmati straw is used as animal fodder, but the coarse variety paddy straw is mostly disposed of by burning.
