Air Pollution

Crop Burning: National Green Tribunal Directs Centre To Submit Status Report On Helping Farmers

NGT has given Centre a time period of six weeks to submit a report on its plan to provide financial assistance to farmers to stop them from resorting to stubble burning

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Highlights
  • NGT asked Centre to take feedback from authorities to enforce its direction
  • Stubble burning continues despite Centre allotting a sum of Rs 685 crore
  • NGT criticised Punjab government for failing to provide farmers’ assistance

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has directed the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture to submit a status report within six weeks on providing infrastructural assistance to farmers to stop them from burning crop residue to prevent air pollution. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel asked the official to take feedback from the authorities concerned on steps taken to enforce the directions of the tribunal including providing machinery to poor and marginal farmers. The green panel said that the crop residue burning causes air pollution and industries should help the farmers by way of corporate social responsibility.

“As per estimate of the Niti Ayog, the farmers are required to be educated at a cost of Rs 700 crore. The report dated June 5, 2017 mentioned equipments available for the purpose. However, the poor farmers are unable to afford the cost of machines. Moreover, in situ degradation of paddy straw may help the soil. The central government has set aside a sum of Rs 685 crore for helping the farmers. Still, stubble burning continues. The above averments show that there are already directions of this Tribunal on the subject on which reliance has been placed. Need is for enforcement of the directions already issued. Accordingly, we direct the Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture to have a feedback from the authorities concerned as to enforcement of directions of the tribunal within six weeks and furnish a status report,” the bench said.

The tribunal said that it would consider the status report on September 18. The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by one Ganga Lalwani seeking direction to provide machinery to poor and marginal farmers to avoid crop residue burning. The plea said also contended that the corporate bodies should provide funds as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility to help the poor farmers. The Punjab government had earlier faced the wrath of the tribunal for not taking effective steps to provide financial assistance and infrastructure facility to farmers to encourage them not to burn agricultural residue in their fields.

The green panel had said that three years had elapsed since its verdict in the Vikrant Tongad case, in which it had passed a slew of directions to stop crop burning, but the state government had shown a lethargic approach. It had said the Punjab government had also failed to tie up with any company, private or public, which could utilise the crop residue. The tribunal had directed the Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh governments to convene a meeting to work out a clear mechanism on transportation and use of stubble as fuel in power plants.

Also Read: Air Pollution: Punjab Government Embarks Upon Programme To Check Stubble Burning

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollutionwaste managementplastic banmanual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollutionclean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.

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