Crop burning: NGT seeks action plan from five States

The Bench has set the matter for hearing on March 22

To go with Climate-warming-UN-COP21-India,FOCUS by Trudy Harris
 In this November 6, 2015 photo, an Indian farmer feeds a controlled fire of spent rice stalks as he prepares the field for a new crop in the southeastern part of the state of Punjab, some 120 km north of New Delhi. India's capital, with 18 million residents, has the world's most polluted air with six times the amount of small particulate matter (pm2.5) than what is considered safe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The air's hazardous amount of pm2.5 can reach deep into the lungs and enter the blood, causing serious long term health effect, with the WHO warning India has the world's highest death rate from chronic respiratory diseases. India, home to 13 of the world's top 20 polluted cities, is also the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind the United States and China. In Delhi, the air pollution is due to vehicle traffic including cargo trucks running on low-grade diesel, individual fires that residents burn in winter, crop being burnt by farmers in neighboring states, and construction site dust. Burning coal in power plants is also major contributor that is expected to increase hugely in the coming decades to match electricity needs of the ever-growing city and its booming satellite towns. AFP PHOTO / ROBERTO SCHMIDT

The National Green Tribunal, which has fixed fines for farmers for burning agriculture waste, has directed the Delhi government and those in four neighbouring States to inform it about the action plan to prevent pollution from crop burning after the harvesting season.

A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan governments to state how the field staff of the departments concerned and the state pollution control boards are going to control pollution caused by crop residue burning.

Steps to be on record

“The counsel appearing for Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and NCT, Delhi would take clear instructions and place on record the effective steps that each one of them is taking to prevent crop residue burning after the coming harvesting season.

“Let the responsible officer from each of the states be present before the tribunal. It should be stated as to how field staff of the departments concerned and the pollution control boards are going to operate to prevent and control pollution by crop residue burning,” the Bench said and posted the matter for next hearing on March 22.

The NGT had earlier fixed the environment compensation amounts per incident of crop burning to be paid by small land owners having less than two acres of land at ₹2,500, medium land owners holding over two acres and less than five acres at ₹5,000 and those owning over five acres at ₹15,000.

‘Take action’

It had also directed the state governments to take coercive and punitive action against persistent defaulters of crop residue burning and asked them to withdraw the assistance provided to such farmers. The green panel had said the five states which have issued notifications prohibiting crop residue burning should ensure they are enforced.