Punjab: Administrative secretaries to monitor paddy residue burning

A high-level meeting over paddy straw burning in Punjab was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh.

In the meeting, it was decided that Senior Administrative Secretaries of Punjab shall be allotted districts for monitoring of activities related to stopping of crop residue burning across the state.

The Chief Secretary asked all the officers to take all possible measures to ensure that there is no burning of paddy residue in Punjab. Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board has been asked to ensure that all the incidents of paddy residue burning are properly recorded through satellite and the report of burning incidents should be shared with concerned Administrative Secretaries, DCs and other related officers. "A mechanism of 24X7 receipts of complaints from public regarding paddy straw burning will be setup," read an official statement.

"All the youth clubs in the State shall be geared up to spread the awareness amongst farmers against burning of paddy residue and pamphlets shall be distributed in schools to make children aware about the environmental issues and to further bring the matter to the notice of their parents. Farmers who have not burnt the paddy in the last years shall be requested to interact with other farmers," the statement added.

This comes after, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu earlier directed all the heads of the State Procurements Agencies as well as the General Manager FCI Punjab region to personally supervise the paddy procurement operations across the state, which began on Monday so as to ensure prompt lifting of paddy as per their allotted share of procurement.

Punjab is expecting paddy procurement to the tune of 200 lakh metric tonne (LMT) this year.