Punjab looks for more funds to mitigate effects of stubble burning

PATIALA: With the Union government approving Rs 100-crore regional project to mitigate the effects of stubble burning on air quality and soil health under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC), the state is now hoping to reverse the environmental impact of crop burning. It, however, said that more funds were needed for a complete eradication of the menace.
The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change on Thursday gave a green light to the regional project, which would initially be introduced in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. At first, the focus would be on farmer awareness and capacity building activities so that they can be encouraged to adopt alternative practices to manage crop residue.

Punjab commissioner of agriculture Balwinder Singh Sidhu said the state stood to gain a major portion of funds in this project as a sum of Rs 40 crore had been set aside for it.

The project will have five components, which would include setting up 12 demonstration clusters for 1,000 villages each; centres from where the farmers can hire straw management machinery; and assisting cultivators with subsidies, who wish to buy the machinery for individual farms. Besides this, a state-level centre would also be set up to coordinate all these activities.

"Although it is not a huge amount but when dealing with a problem which is as enormous as stubble burning, pooling in efforts from all quarters could go a long way," Sidhu said.

"The state government had also sent a proposal of a Rs 650-crore project to the union government, seeking funds to initiate additional steps that can further help Punjab in resolving the problem," he added.

Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman K S Pannu said the solution to stop straw burning was not just restricted to creating awareness amongst farmers. "Dealing with stubble is a continuous process and more efforts are needed to establish a system under which the farmers give up burning of the crop residue. This can be done only by providing the farmers with means to convert crop residue into a source of income," Pannu said.

Meanwhile, Union environment secretary C K Mishra, who chaired the meeting of the National Steering Committee on Climate Change that approved the project, in a statement, said that based on the performance in the first phase, the scope of the project could be enhanced and more activities could be supported subsequently by the Centre.