Punjab announces incentives to curb paddy waste burning

Offers Rs 1 lakh to each straw combusting-free village & Rs 1 cr to each such district

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday announced incentives of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1 crore for each village and district, respectively, which were free from the stubble burning. The move is likely help the state get rid of menace of straw burning.

Badal was inaugurating a workshop jointly organised by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Punjab Pollution Control Board here Thursday.

The chief minister said the decision was taken to curb the practice of stubble burning, which was not only hazardous for health but also detrimental to the fertility of soil. Badal further said he fully realised only resorting to punitive measures to end this curse would not yield any positive results unless the people were properly motivated to give up the practice.

Badal also called upon the Centre, state governments, agriculture scientists, environment experts and farmers to join hands to put the unhealthy practice. He also asked farmers not to go for a mad race for sowing one crop after another just to reap maximum profits.

Badal urged the Centre to come out with a farmer-friendly scheme to effectively deal with the menace by giving them incentives for equipment and machinery. He said the state government was already giving subsidy on the purchase of such farm machinery to farmers.

Striking a positive note to create mass awareness about the ill-effects of the burning, Badal said the day was not away when Punjab would lead the country in getting the state free of straw burning, as it had taken steps for agriculture advancement such as ushering in green revolution in mid-1960s, transforming the country from food deficit to food surplus nation.