Stubble burning -PPCB launches awareness drive; flagged off publicity van
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Prof. (Dr.) Adarshpal Vig, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board today gave green signal to the awareness vans from the Board’s Headquarters, Nabha Road, Patiala to sensitize the farmers not to set fire to the paddy stubble. He said that this awareness drive would be conducted by the Board in all the districts of Punjab from 15th September, 2021 to 15th November, 2021 to create awareness among the farmers.
He said that with the burning of stubble, where the environment is polluted, the fertility of the land is depleted, friendly insects die and many deadly diseases are born. He said that Punjab Government and Union Government are taking several steps in this regard to prevent burning of stubble. Prof. Vig said that it was proposed to use stubble as fuel in the boilers in the factories and the Punjab Government had also issued guidelines in this regard.The Punjab Government would encourage the factory owners to make suitable changes in their boilers to use stubble as fuel in their boilers. In this way, the burning of stubble in the fields would be reduced and the farmers would be able to get a fair price for the stubble. An Air Commission has also been set up by the Government of India to cover Punjab, Haryana, UP and NCR area and efforts are being made to prevent air pollution in the area.
He said that the Punjab Government is providing free agricultural machinery / equipment to the small and middle class farmers for the in-situ management of crop residues without any rent. Farmers can avail this facility through Custom Hiring Services Centers, Cooperative Societies and Village Panchayats. The complete information in this regard is available on the I-Khetiapp. Therefore, he appealed to all the farmers to make maximum use of agricultural machinery / equipment for the in-situ management of crop residues.
He said that the National Green Tribunal has enacted laws not to set fire to stubble and has imposed fines on farmers who set fire to stubble. Stubble burring incidents will be monitored with the help of satellite. Punjab Pollution Control Board with collaboration of Remote Sensing Centre has developed an app which will be used by the nodal officers appointed by the Govt. for information of stubble burning incidents so that legal action may be taken by the concerned Patwari against the land owners.
Er. Krunesh Garg, Member Secretary of the Board appealed to the farmers not to burn the stubble. Farmers can cultivate the stubblein the fields.He said that according to the data of the Agriculture Department, this has increased the yield of paddy. Stubble can be taken out and used in a no. of ways such as bio-thermal plants, animal feed, cardboard factories, etc.Stubble can be bio-composted in the field. He advised the farmers to cultivate cotton, basmati, vegetables etc. in addition to wheat and paddy crops and stressed on the need to get out of the crop cycle. He said that this year it is proposed to use 1 million metric tonnes of stubble so that the farmers can get proper alternative to stubble. He appealed to the public to assist the farmers and the administration and to lodge any suggestion/ complaint regarding burning of stubble on mobile number 9035172000.
Stubble burning -PPCB launches awareness drive; flagged off publicity van .He appealed to the farmers to treat stubble as capital and use it for financial gain. He sought the co-operation of the farmers and said that we should not set fire to the stubble and take care of the environment by using it in a proper manner.
“ਕਿਸਾਨਾਂ ਨਾ ਸਾੜ ਪਰਾਲੀ, ਬਚੇਗੀ ਹਰਿਆਲੀ”—ਡਾ ਆਦਰਸ਼ ਪਾਲ ਵਿਗ
September 15,2021
 Adarshpal Vig, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board){kind=link}