Northern States Check there Preparedness Ahead of Stubble Burning Season

A meeting chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav was held at Indira Paryawaran Bhawan in New Delhi on 23rd September 2021 with Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, Environment Ministers of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and senior officials from Punjab and Ministries of Agriculture, Power, Animal Husbandry and all other stakeholders for the improvement of air quality in Delhi-NCR which tend to aggravate during the winter season. The Chairman of the Air Quality Commission was also present. 

Objectives of the Meeting:

The meeting was called to assess the preparedness and readiness of State administration for the implementation of measures to prevent and control air pollution in NCR which is also linked to Stubble burning in ensuing harvesting season.

Parali/Stubble Burning

Management of Agriculture Stubble Burning (Parali) was discussed at length during the meeting. The burning of Parali during the period Sep – Oct has been attributed to poor air quality of the regions, which get aggravated due to local meteorological conditions in NCT. This has been observed in the last few years.

Solutions to Stubble Burning 

Measures are at various stages of its implementation, but will definitely help in providing an enabling environment towards abatement of Air Pollution in Delhi NCR. These measures include:

• In-situ management of stubble by bio-decomposition on large scale by the UP, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab

• Mandatory use of bio-mass with 50% paddy straw as a supplement fuel in Thermal Power Plants in NCR

• Setting up of a Taskforce which has been constituted to work out the mode and means for utilizing the non-basmati stubble as fodder in States of Rajasthan and Gujarat

• Common manure development facility using rice straw and private participation to encourage in-situ management of Parali (Bio-decomposition). 

Farmers will get incentives for not burning the stubble 

Various measures taken by the States were also informed during the meeting such as Rs 200 Crores has been allocated by the Government of Haryana to provide an incentive to farmers for containing burning of Parali.