Chandigarh. At the beginning of winter, farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western UP burn stubble in the fields. Burning of stubble increases air pollution in Delhi and surrounding areas. Cases are registered against farmers for burning stubble and fines are also imposed on them. Despite this, incidents of stubble burning occur every year. This year too, thousands of cases of stubble burning have come to light. Maximum cases of stubble burning have been registered in Punjab. There are more than 6000 cases of stubble burning in Punjab since September this year.
According to the data of Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, there have been 6611 cases of stubble burning in the state. These incidents of stubble burning were seen in Punjab from 15 September to 10 November. According to the data, maximum 116 incidents of stubble burning took place in Sangrur district of Punjab. 44 incidents of stubble burning were recorded in Mansa, 26 in Firozpur and 24 each in Moga and Faridkot. Last year, there were more than 36,000 incidents of stubble burning in Punjab. In this way, there has been a significant reduction in the incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, but this year also the cases of stubble burning are in thousands. Farmers say that a new crop cannot be sown without destroying the stubble.
A chemical called bio decomposer is used to convert stubble into manure. At the same time, stubble can also be uprooted from the ground using machines, but since burning the stubble is the most convenient option, farmers seem to take this step. During the hearing in the pollution case in Delhi in October, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over charging less fine from farmers for burning stubble. After this, recently the Central Government has doubled the fine for burning stubble. Now the fine has been increased from Rs 5000 to Rs 30000 depending on the area of the field.
