Haryana agri varsity to speed up crop residue management

To check environment pollution owing to burning of crop residues, the Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) has come up with a action plan to deal with the issue that has been a cause of worry for the government.

In this regard, the HAU has committed itself for managing crop residues, which will pave the way for making the state pollution free.

University Vice Chancellor K P Singh said here today an action plan has been prepared for the management of crop residues across the state.

A sum of Rs 4 crore has been sanctioned to the university by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for this work, he added.

The burning of crop residues, on one hand contaminate the environment while on the other hand the number of beneficial micro-organisms and organic carbon in the soil are decreasing, thus resulting in depletion of productivity of the fields, Singh said.

Besides, the toxic gases generated by burning the crop residues cause adverse impact on human health and also pollute the environment, he said.

The level of pollution caused by burning paddy straw has reached to the extent where the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had to intervene, he added.

Farmers should be given technology for paddy straw management so that they can have another alternative other than burning it, he said.

There are 20 districts in Haryana which cultivate sugarcane and paddy and the straw burning problem is the most serious in these districts.

About 28 lakh metric tonnes of crop residues are burnt every year in these districts.