'Stubble burning serious issue': Green Tribunal asks Punjab, Haryana to prepare time-bound action plan for 2024
PTC News Desk: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered Punjab and Haryana to come up with a time-bound strategy to combat stubble burning between January 1 and September 1 2024.
While hearing about the increase in air pollution caused by crop residue burning, it was stressed that farm fires were a serious problem that needed to be addressed immediately.
The tribunal stated that it has been continually tracking farm fire incidents in Punjab and Haryana since October 20 and has issued directives to regulate and control them.
The Green Tribunal said, “There were 36,632 farm fire incidents in Punjab and 2,285 of those had occurred from September 15 to November 28 this year. According to the district-wise cumulative data, the maximum number of 5,352 incidents took place in Sangrur district of Punjab, while the corresponding figure for Haryana was 476 in Fatehabad district between September 15 and November 16."
“The problem of residue burning arises every year. Therefore, for 2024, a comprehensive plan and remedial action need to start at this stage itself. To prevent such issues, we have directed Punjab and Haryana to prepare a phase-wise action plan. The counsel for Punjab has submitted that such an action plan will be prepared and submitted before the tribunal in six weeks,” said NGT’s Principal Bench.
According to the Bench, incidents of paddy residue burning in Punjab and Haryana have decreased. On November 28, there were eighteen reports of paddy residue burning in Punjab, but none in Haryana.
Several suggestions were made during the hearing, including sensitising cultivators, creating a database of farm owners and their phone numbers, creating a catalogue of suggestions and examining the feasibility of their implementation by an expert committee.
- With inputs from agencies
