As the issue of stubble burning continues to plague the region, farmers in Punjab have expressed reluctance to shun the practice unless they are provided financial incentive.
Prepared to take the State machinery head on, the farmers have formed groups in villages to confront government officials from taking any legal action against them for burning residue of paddy crop.
“We are prepared to take them [officials] on if they visit our village or our farms to penalise us for burning the residue. We don’t have any other option,” farmer leader Avtar Singh Korjiwala of Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dhakonda) told The Hindu .
“We have formed groups of 12-15 farmers and whenever any of us has to burn the residue we all get together at that field to ensure that no government official enters the farm to stop us,” he said.
Admitting that there have been cases of farmers confronting teams of government officials during stubble burning, senior PPCB official G.S. Gill told The Hindu that so far Punjab has recorded as many as 295 cases of stubble-burning in the ongoing harvesting season.
₹8 lakh fine collected
“We have acted against erring farmers is many cases and imposed penalty, collecting a fine of ₹8.42 lakh till now,” he said on Monday.
Satnam Singh, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Manch of Behru village in Patiala, has asked the government to refrain from taking stringent action against the farmers.
“If paddy residue has to be disposed of through machines it means an additional financial burden of at least ₹5,000 per acre. How will a farmer, who is reeling under debt, bear the cost ,” he asked.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government on Monday said it would bring in a comprehensive agricultural policy in the next session of the State Assembly. The announcement was made during a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh with various farmer unions in Chandigarh.
