E-Paper
Uttar Pradesh: Dip in stubble burning incidents below expectations, 18 districts on radar
The Uttar Pradesh government has asked senior officers for daily extensive monitoring of the situation on the stubble burning front
Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a slight dip in stubble burning with 584 incidents reported till October 26 this year against 712 in the same period last year but the decrease is less than expectations of the authorities.
The state government has asked senior officers for day-to-day extensive monitoring of the situation and ensuring effective preventive action.
In particular, the state government has identified 18 districts where the expected results have not been achieved yet. In a missive sent to all district magistrates, chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has listed these 18 districts which include Aligarh, Barabanki, Fatehpur, Kanpur Nagar, Mathura, Hardoi, Sambhal, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Saharanpur, Rampur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Bulandshahr, Shamli and
Bareilly, a senior Prayagraj district administration official said.
On Wednesday itself, 23 more stubble burning incidents, including five each from Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri and two incidents each from Sitapur, Pilibhit, Bareilly and Barabanki were reported. Aligarh, Fatehpur, Mathura, Rampur and Sant Kabir Nagar districts also reported one incident each on Wednesday.
The Wednesday’s incidents were considerably higher than nine incidents of stubble burning reported on Tuesday -- Shahjahanpur (four), Barabanki (two), Aligarh (1), Rampur (1) and Fatehpur (1).
The 584 incidents reported across Uttar Pradesh so far this year include 187 from Shahjahanpur (against 185 till October 26 last year), 83 from Pilibhit (against 113 in the same period last year), 65 from Kheri (against 58), 42 from Rampur (against 52), 24 from Aligarh (against 23), 10 from Mathura (against 59) and 22 from Barabanki (against 24 in the same period last year).
Chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, who reviewed the situation at a video conference with officers of various districts on Tuesday, gave directives for ensuring that the number of stubble burning incidents did not increase.
“A review has revealed that the number of incidents has not come down as hoped in certain districts. District magistrates should take action as per directives issued earlier to ensure that no incident of stubble burning is reported…Personal attention should be paid to the action plan worked out to check incidents of stubble burning in districts by ensuring extensive monitoring on daily basis. Effective preventive and legal action should be taken against those violating environment rules,” said Mishra, in an order issued before the video conference.
Further, in a 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 spelt out.
The Supreme Court’s orders in writ petition (civil) number 13029/1985 -- MC Mehta versus Union of India and others -- and the National Green Tribunal’s orders in original application number 666/2018 Mrs Ganga Lalwani versus Union of India and others make it mandatory for the state government to check air pollution caused by stubble burning.
Although senior officers of the agriculture department remain optimistic about the situation, there are indications that the total number of incidents is bound to go up further if the prevailing trend continues.
“We get reports about stubble burning from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) through satellite imagery of ISRO. We are getting most of the reports of burning of paddy stubble from 20-22 districts of the state. No incident of stubble burning was reported from any of the eight districts of the National Capital Region on Wednesday. The harvesting of paddy is nearly complete in west UP. The focus will be on east UP in the coming weeks. We are distributing bio decomposer to the farmers free of cost to dissuade them from stubble warning and a close watch is being kept on the unfolding situation across Uttar Pradesh,” said Neeraj Srivastava, joint director, state agriculture department.
A few days before the Prime Minister Office’s October 14 review meeting on air pollution in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary had issued a slew of directions to officials and asked them to strictly curb the incidents of stubble and garbage burning in the state.
As per 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.
