44.5% increase in stubble burning incidents in Punjab: Centre tells SC

NEW DELHI: Government of India has told Supreme Court (SC) that Punjab has witnessed an increase of 44.5 per cent in the incidents of stubble burning. This has happened in spite of getting 46 per cent of the total fund from the central government for controlling crop residue burning.

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) informed in an affidavit that Punjab has suffered from 76,590 incidents of fire in 2020. Last year, the incidents numbered 53,991 which evidently indicates an increase of 44.5 per cent from 2019. MoEF added that Haryana has witnessed almost 5000 such incidents which is less than the number in 2019 (6,652), showing a decrease of 25 per cent. It added that to address the issue of air pollution and to subsidise the cost of crop residue management, Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has come up with a special Central Sector Scheme. The scheme is 100 per cent centrally sponsored in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi for the period of 2018-19 to 2020-21.

The central government has provided Rs 1,726.67 crore of funds, of which Punjab has been allocated a sum of Rs 793.18 crore, Haryana is given Rs 499.90 crore, UP Rs 374.08 crore, Delhi Rs 4.52 crore and Indian Council of Agricultural Research and other central agencies are given Rs 54.99 crore. The Ministry informed the apex court about the ordinance promulgated for setting up a commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas. It added that all the thermal plants in the region have been told to strictly follow the timelines for installation of Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) system and other infrastructure to control the pollutants.

In addition to this, MoEFCC told the SC that overaged vehicles in NCR and adjoining areas which are more than 10 and 15 years are still been operated but the traffic authorities are issuing challans.