Burning of paddy stubble in coastal districts worries green activists

KENDRAPADA: With the harvest season having ended, a large number of farmers of the coastal districts of Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur have begun burning paddy stubble. As a result, the areas surrounding the fields have been engulfed in a thick haze.
“I set paddy stubble afire on three acres of land as I have no alternate way of disposing the residue. It is our compulsion that we have to burn paddy stubble. If we don’t, the sowing of black gram (moong) and potato crop will be delayed,” said Rabindra Pradhan, a farmer of Bharatapur in Kendrapada.

Like Rabindra, other farmers have been burning crop residue in various parts of the districts, both during the day and under the cover of darkness. “Farmers burn paddy stubble as it involves no cost. The thick smoke that emanates as the result of fields being set on fire poses a health hazard for the people as it causes respiratory problems. Many trees near the fields are also dying of this smoke. The leaves of the rest have turned black with soot,” Amarabara Biswal, an environmentalist of Kendrapada. He added that local environment activists had repeatedly asked the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) and the district administration to prevent the farmers from polluting the air and to take action against them. “But they are reluctant to act against the offenders,” he complained.

Gayadhar Dhal a farmers’ leader and secretary of the district unit of Krusaka Sabha, explained that the burning of paddy stubble was an age-old practice and it helped make the field ready for another crop at the end of the paddy harvesting season. “The authorities have no right to prevent farmers from burning stubble,” he said.

Dhal also said farmers should not be victimized as other economic sectors were equally responsible for causing pollution. “Last year, the Central Pollution Control Board had identified Paradip port as one of the most polluted areas of the state. Villagers near Paradip and its surroundings are facing severe air and water pollution from around 15 polluting industries there. Why doesn’t the the officials take action against them?” he wondered.

When contacted, Mukesh Mahalingam, the regional officer of the OSPCB in Paradip, said, “The government has strictly prohibited the burning of paddy stubble in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Odisha government is yet to do such a thing; hence, we can’t take action against the farmers who burn stubble.”