Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the bio-decomposer technique of converting stubble into manure has shown success. The governments who were claiming that there is no alternative to stubble burning now have a cheap alternative, he said.
Mr. Kejriwal inspected a farm at Hiranki village in Narela where the bio-decomposing solution, developed under the guidance of the PUSA Institute, was being tried out by the Delhi government.
Effective alternative
Mr. Kejriwal said: “Delhi has provided a cheap and effective alternative for stubble burning to other States. The neighbouring States, where the practice of stubble burning is prevalent, should implement the alternative without any excuses.”
He said that it was not only the people living in Delhi but also the farmers in Punjab and Haryana who have said that they are highly distressed due to the absence of alternatives to stubble burning, due to which they are left with no option but to burn stubble and bear the brunt of pollution.
Mr. Kejriwal said: “We had sprayed the bio-decomposer solution on the farmlands across Delhi around October 13 and on inspecting it today, we found the entire stubble has been converted into manure and the fields are ready for sowing again. I hope that this is the last year when we have to suffer from pollution.”
He added that the government would present this alternative in the Supreme Court owing to its effectiveness and cost. He said that his government sprayed the solution across Delhi at a cost of ₹20 lakh.
Mr. Kejriwal said that he had tried to reach out to the Union Environment Minister to discuss the stubble burning alternative with him. The Minister told him that it should be tried out in Delhi first before the Centre considers implementing it in other States. Delhi Environment Minster Gopal Rai also spoke after inspecting the fields and said that the Central and State governments should also implement this method to combat air pollution.
He said he was hopeful that the new commission set up by the Centre will take up the issue of stubble burning on a priority basis and try to solve the matter. “This year, the residents of Delhi are suffering, but I definitely hope that at least from the next year, the Central government and the other State governments will be more careful about the pollution issue and will try to solve the problem,” Mr. Rai said.