New Delhi: The government has doubled the fine for burning stubble by farmers to prevent deterioration of air quality and pollution.
The cumulative paddy residue burning reports show a 68 per cent decline for the period from November 6 to 27 in 2024 as compared to 2023, as per Lok Sabha data.
Expressing his views on stubble burning issue, Rakesh Kumar, a Horticulture expert, told ETV Bharat, “Farmers need concrete solutions to dispose of stubbles, increasing the amount of fines would not help to stop stubble burning issues.”
Echoing similar sentiments, a farmer of Haryana Amarjeet Singh Mohri told ETV Bharat, “Increasing fine amounts will not impact this issue. Government should provide facilities to small farmers for disposal of stubble because its management is a costly affair for such farmers. Modern machine operators often avoid cutting paddy and make bundles on small farm fields, following which they always face problems.”
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in the notification of November 6, has amended the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (Imposition, Collection and Utilization of Environmental Compensation for Stubble Burning) Rules, 2023 and has issued the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (Imposition, Collection and Utilization of Environmental Compensation for Stubble Burning) Amendment Rules, 2024.
As per amendment Rule 2024, farmers having an area of land of less than 2 acres has to pay fine of Rs 5000 per incidence then Rs 2500, land less than 5 acres fine Rs 10000 per incidence then Rs 5000, land more than 5 acres to pay Rs 30000 then Rs 15000 per incidence, the Ministry of State of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Lok Sabha.
A farmer of Uttar Pradesh Amarpal Singh told ETV Bharat, “Small farmers like me need support from the government for stubble management. Purchase of modern machines or bio-decomposer put an extra financial burden on us so the administration should help us to deal with this issue.”
As per the Consortium for Research on Agro ecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) Laboratory, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), the cases of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan has reduced from a total of 53,672 in 2022 to 12,530 in 2024.
In Punjab, the total number of stubble burning incidents has reduced from 49888 in 2022 to 10821 in 2024 and that of Haryana from 3629 in 2022 to 1373 in 2024, Singh informed.
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