New Delhi: In recent weeks, frightening up keeping with the harvested crops across the states and particularly in Haryana, the Supreme Court of India has taken a very strict stand on stubble burning and warning the farmers who fail to stop such burning. Acting on the court’s orders, the HARYANA government has said that any farmer who burns stubble to land will be proceeded against legally after registering an FIR. Furthermore, farmers who participate in such a scheme will not be allowed to sell their produce for two farming cycles.
This came after Supreme Court rebuke on Saturday over stubble burning issue which sought to bring pollution levels in northern India.
Mr. Hooda Criticises Government’s Approach
Dswhile, commenting on the government’s decision, the Congress leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed that penalising farmers in such manner is unfair. A question ’’What are small farmers supposed to do with the stubble?” To counter the raise in food prices, Ministers have been reluctant to buy foodgrains of their own produce, Hooda opined. He had suggested developing a balanced perspective followed by the concept of MSP in stubble. On his part, Hooda said that stubble could be used in the following ways: power generation being one of them.
He also added his input to the appreciations earlier made to Haryana for minimising crop burning that led to stubble burning and said pollution cannot be managed only by managing crop burning. It may be slightly contributing, but there are others like factories and water, you know whose colour is this? As for these, there should also be solutions,”, Hooda concluded.
Stubble Burning: Delhi Air Quality Declines Sharply
However, Delhi like any metropolitan city is feeling the pinch and struggling with issues of deteriorating air quality. On Sunday the AQI in Delhi rose above the 300 points that classify air quality as ‘poor’. In some areas, AQI readings were more than 200. Haryana’s Kaithal is on the top with 101 instances of stubble burning on Sunday morning.
Delhi’s government has blamed smog from stubble burning in neighbouring states like Haryana for a series of pollution crises in the capital. A worrying decrease in air quality adds health risks for the inhabitants of Delhi particularly with the arrival of winter season.
While stubble burning is still being discussed and associated pollution, farmers and ecological activists search for permanent measures to prevent the occurrences without a huge number of agricultural workers being fined.
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