Haryana govt bans farmers from burning wheat stubble

New Delhi: The Haryana government on Wednesday issued an advisory to farmers stating that burning of wheat stubble would amount to prosecution, in a step towards preventing air pollution in the state. 

The Environment Department had issued a notification regarding prohibition on burning of agriculture waste in open fields under the provisions of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, a spokesperson of the state Pollution Control Board said. 

Advising wheat growers of the state to use stubble as fodder or convert it into manure, the spokesperson said, the farmers were indulging in burning of wheat stubble and paddy straw every year leading to manifold increase in the air pollution level during harvesting season. 

Besides, the soil fertility is also lost due to burning of the essential nutrients as it is estimated that burning of one tonne of rice straw accounts for loss of 5.5 kilo gram (kg) Nitrogen, 2.3 kg phosphorus, 25 kg potassium and 1.2 kg sulphur, he said. 

The Pollution Control Board has filed prosecution action against 32 farmers, found burning agriculture waste in open fields in Special Environment Court at Kurukshetra and Faridabad in the past years, the spokesman said. 

While some of the farmers have been convicted, imprisoned and fined by the Special Environment Courts, other cases are pending for decision and the same would soon be given by the Environment Courts, he said. 

The Board has approved nine prosecution cases for filing in the Environment Courts against farmers for violation of stubble burning for year 2015-16 so far, he added. 

The spokesperson said that Remote Sensing Study for area estimation of burning is also being carried out by Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC). 

The state Agriculture Department is promoting the use of various machines and techniques for in-site management of crop residue to prevent loss of soil nutrients, minerals and improvement of general soil health, he said. 

It is also giving subsidy for purchase of such machines like happy seeder, turbo seeder, shredder, bailing machine and zero-seed-cum-fertiliser drill to facilitate in-situ management of crop residue, he added.