IEP Chandigarh, November 27
Terming that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government is the government of common people and farmers, Punjab’s agriculture and farmers Welfare Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Sunday said the state government has been taking all decisions in the public interest and will continue to do so in the future. The Punjab Government won’t let any farmer suffer losses. Mr. Dhaliwal has issued orders to withdraw the red entries ordered by the central government to the farmers of the state for stubble burning and a notification has been issued in this regard. He said that the orders to make red entry against Khasra Number of revenue record issued by the central institution National Green of the land concerned Tribunal (NGT) in it’s letter issued on October 4, 2022, have been withdrawn. Instructions have been issued, he said. Mr. Dhaliwal said that the red entry in the land record is not in the interest of the farmers of the state. He said that due to the red entry, the farmers would have been deprived of taking loans, government facilities and subsidies etc. The Agriculture Minister emphasized on the need for farmers to adopt alternative methods for stubble management and this is the need of the hour that farmers support the government in making the state pollution free. He said that environmental pollution is a major global problem in today’s era and this is high-time to take steps in this regard. Talking about alternative methods of stubble management, the Cabinet Minister further said that the Indian Agricultural Research Institute has developed a radical solution for stubble burning in the form of a bio-enzyme called Pusa. He said that when sprayed, this enzyme, in 20-25 days it destroys the stubble and turns it into compost, further it also helps in improving the soil quality. He said that the practice of stubble burning, which has been going on for many years, in which stubble is set on fire to clear the fields before planting the next crop, should be stopped by adopting alternative methods. The Agriculture Minister further said that the Punjab government is already serious about this and in the current year till now 19393 machines have been given to the farmers on subsidy for stubble management, while in last four years 90433 machines were given to the farmers. He said that a total of 109815 machines are available with the farmers of the state. He said that according to the satellite information of November 26, 2022, during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, from September 15 to November 26, 76619, 71122 and 49876 cases of stubble burning have been registered respectively, which is 30 percent less than last year. He said that if the central government gives assistance to the farmers equal to the expenditure incurred on stubble management, then it will be possible to get rid of this problem permanently.
