E-Paper
18 U.P. districts fail to meet expectations in curbing stubble burning
In a missive sent to all district magistrates, UP chief secretary Durga Shanker Mishra has listed these 18 districts which include Aligarh, Barabanki, Fatehpur, Kanpur Nagar, Mathura, Hardoi, Sambhal, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Saharanpur, Rampur, Kheri, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Bulandshahr, Shamli and Bareilly.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Uttar Pradesh government has identified 18 districts where expected results to prevent stubble burning by farmers have not yet been achieved and instructed district magistrates concerned to intensify their efforts in this regard.
In a missive sent to all district magistrates, UP chief secretary Durga Shanker Mishra has listed these 18 districts which include Aligarh, Barabanki, Fatehpur, Kanpur Nagar, Mathura, Hardoi, Sambhal, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Saharanpur, Rampur, Kheri, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Bulandshahr, Shamli and Bareilly, informed a senior district administration official.
In the letter dated October 25, the chief secretary has drawn the attention of the DMs towards past orders to prevent stubble burning, including the latest order issued on October 10, in which pollution being caused by this practice and the steps needed to prevent it were spelled out.
Conceding that in these 18 districts the fall in incidents of stubble burning was not as expected in the recent review undertaken by the state government, the chief secretary in the order (a copy of which is with HT), has instructed the district magistrates to ensure that no incident of stubble burning takes place in their area and also undertake daily progress of the steps taken in this regard.
The chief secretary has also pointed out the orders to prevent the air pollution taking place due to stubble burning issued by the Supreme Court and informed the officials that review of the progress in preventing stubble burning was being undertaken at the highest level by the state government.
It is worth mentioning that a few days before the Prime Minister Office’s October 14 review meeting on air pollution in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), Uttar Pradesh chief secretary (CS) Durga Shankar Mishra had issued a slew of directions to officials and asked them to strictly curb the incidents of stubble and garbage burning in the state.
In a government order issued to all divisional commissioners, district magistrates and district police chiefs on October 10, the CS had asked the officials to ensure legal penal action against farmers found burning crop residues, and also creating awareness among them about the negative impact of stubble burning on environment.
The burning of crop residues and garbage is seen as a major cause of air pollution in the NCR, where the air quality worsens every year in October-November when paddy harvesting is done.
As per the directives, for someone caught burning agriculture residue or waste in fields, the fine is ₹2,500 if the field is less than 2 acres, ₹5,000 if the field is 2-5 acres and ₹15,000 if the size of the field is above 5 acres.
