Farmers Movement Archive

526 incidents of farm fires in 12 days in Haryana

Keeping a complete check on farm fires remains a challenge for the Haryana government as the state reported 526 incidents of crop residue burning from September 25 to October 6.The number of Active Fire Locations (AFL) is more than double the last year’s 200 during the same period. As per figures of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Kurukshetra district tops with 118 cases followed by 98 in Karnal, 65 each in Ambala and Kaithal, 48 in Fatehabad, 42 in Yamunanagar and 24 in Jind. The government had spent a whopping amount of ₹ 1,300 crore for setting up custom hiring centres to provide machinery to farmers for management of crop waste. This year, the state government had also divided the villages into red, orange and green zones, as per the previous records of the incidents of farm fires. A local-level committee was formed to keep an eye on the erring farmers with a special focus on red zones to ensure immediate action.Officials of the agriculture department and district administrations claim that the rise in incidents of farm fires is due to harvesting, which began a week earlier than last year. It is also learnt that strict action was not taken this year due to the ongoing protests by farmers against the agriculture bills and tardy paddy procurement. In Kurukshetra, which has reported the highest number of incidents of AFLs, deputy commissioner Sharandeep Kaur Barar has issued strict directions to officials of the agriculture department to register FIRs against the erring farmers. The DC has also deputed concerned agriculture development officer, patwari and panchayat secretaries to keep an eye on farmers of 31 villages in red zones. Officials say the number of farm incidents may go up following an increase in area under parmal varieties. The parmal varieties are harvested by combine harvesters and the machines leave about 20 quintals of unmanaged crop waste every acre. Meanwhile, a difference has been noticed between the AFLs identified by Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) and incidents of stubble burning reported on the ground. The HARSAC reported 118 active fire locations in Kurukshetra district by October 6 but the district administration claimed that only 11 incidents of stubble burning were registered after physical verification. Deputy director of Haryana agriculture department Karam Chand said, “There are reports that AFLs recorded by HARSAC were not found after physical verification in Kurukshetra as well as Kaithal district.” Reacting over the increase in incidents of stubble burning this year, S Narayanan, member secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, said, “We have been vigorously taking up the matter with farmers so that they could use eco-friendly harvesting equipments provided by the government to prevent stubble burning.” “Since the poor air quality caused by farm fires may intensify the impact of Covid-19, there is a need to keep a check on incidents of stubble burning,” he added.

Hindustan Times

07-10-2020

City