Bhopal: Watering down the government's effort to arrest the number of stubble-burning cases, farmers in nine Madhya Pradesh districts continue the incineration unabated. The Gwalior-Chambal area alone accounted for 697 cases of stubble burning in the last one-and-a-quarter months.
Data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) reveals 1,169 cases of stubble burning in the Central Indian state from September 15 to October 27, making it the second-highest state after Punjab with 1,995 cases in the same period.
The highest number of cases have been reported from Ashoknagar, Datia, Guna, Shivpuri, Bhind, Vidisha, Sagar, Morena and Jabalpur. Guna topped the list with 380 cases against 275 last year. The figure stands at 183 for Ashoknagar against 109 last year. Shivpuri counted 97 cases against 51 last year and Morena saw 26 cases against 37 last year, a marginal improvement. At 11, Gwalior has the least number of incidents.
Apart from these top polluters, Vidisha reported 55 cases compared to 63 last year while the count is 42 for Sagar.
But there are districts where farmers have borne the fruit of pulsation from the government. Seoni portrays a happy picture with just 29 cases from a whopping 114 last year while Sehore boasts of 13 cases against 47 last year, followed by Raisen with 11 cases against 44 last year and Harda, the top district in cutting down the numbers, with 7 against 25.
"Cases of stubble burning across the state are monitored through satellite and wherever such cases are reported, the concerned collector is informed about it. Farmers in the state are constantly being made aware of the damage caused to the fields by burning stubble. For this, the stubble chariot is being run across the state," Rajeev Chaudhary of the Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Engineering Directorate said.
The offer of subsidised Happy Seeder and Super Seeder to farmers has had an impact on the overall lower number of burning incidents.
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