Punjab ministers put heads together to tackle stubble burning

Chandigarh, Sep 19 (PTI) Four Punjab ministers on Monday got together with experts to formulate a strategy to deal with the stubble burning issue and safeguard the environment.

Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Higher Education and Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, New and Renewable Energy Minister Aman Arora, and School Education Minister Harjot Bains chalked out a comprehensive plan which will begin from September 27 with a campaign to make farmers aware of the ill effects of paddy stubble burning and its management.

Under the first phase of this campaign, college students will be enrolled and trained by experts on harmful effects of burning stubble – a major cause of air pollution. – and its absorption into the soil, the government said in a statement.

After that, special training programmes will be conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on September 28 and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on September 29.

These students will visit villages across the state to make people aware of the harmful effects of burning crop residue, the statement read.

Meet Hayer said that industries which use paddy straw as fuel will be encouraged by the Punjab government.

He said that the government is working on a module to make it mandatory for the brick kilns to use some percentage of paddy straw as fuel.

The same module will be implemented in other industries also, he said.

Dhaliwal said that a 15-day deadline has been extended to farmers to apply for subsidies on the 'Happy Seeder' machine so that a maximum number of them can plant wheat without burning the stubble.

Happy Seeder machines have been provided to the agriculture block development officers to be used by marginal farmers free of cost.

For the absorption of stubble into the soil without burning, the agriculture department will also spray 5,000 acres of D-decomposer solution in an experiment as a pilot project, said Dhaliwal.

Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister A Venu Prasad and Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Sarvjit Singh were also part of the meeting.

Dhaliwal said that a massive awareness campaign is going to be launched from Punjabi University, Patiala, to sensitise the farmers not to burn stubble.

Earlier during the meeting, all the ministers stressed that joint efforts are needed to provide a clean environment to people of Punjab and the future generations. PTI SUN VN VN