The Haryana government arrested 18 farmers in the Kaithal district over the weekend for stubble burning. This action follows the Supreme Court's reprimand over air pollution caused by stubble burning. The farmers were however subsequently released on bail.
The agriculture department of the state also suspended 24 officials for failing to curb stubble burning.
Data from the Department of Agriculture indicates that 327 farmers have received challans, and 93 FIRs have been filed, resulting in fines totaling Rs 8.32 lakh. Over 689 incidents of stubble burning were recorded last year, while 655 incidents have already been documented this season.
“Red entry has been put in the farm records of these farmers. This means they will not be able to sell their crops in the mandis for two years," a senior agriculture officer told the Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Special Director General of Police (Law & Order) Arpit Shukla said Punjab police have also registered 874 cases of stubble-burning in the past few days. Penalties worth Rs 10.55 lakh were imposed in 397 cases and “red entries” were made in the revenue records of 394 farmers, he said.
Haryana's Agriculture Minister, J.P. Dalal, has also appealed to farmers not to resort to burning crop residue. “We are providing Rs 1,000 per acre to encourage farmers to opt for crop residue management,” he said.
The apex court had recently criticized both the Haryana and Punjab governments for their failure to prosecute violators contributing to pollution in the national capital and nearby regions.
SC’s warning to the Punjab-Haryana govt
The Supreme Court had summoned the chief secretaries of Haryana and Punjab on October 16 to explain their inaction regarding stubble burning which is a significant factor contributing to the deteriorating air quality of Delhi NCR during the winter months.
A bench consisting of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Augustine George Masih expressed frustration.
"This is not a political matter. If the chief secretary is acting at somebody's behest, we will issue summons against them as well. Next Wednesday we are going to physically call the chief secretary and explain everything. Nothing has been done, the same is true with the Punjab government. The attitude is of complete defiance," the bench stated.
The court said that Punjab had not prosecuted a single farmer for stubble burning in the past three years and criticized the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for becoming a “toothless tiger” in tackling the issue.
Delhi’s AQI drops to ‘very poor’
Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi has started to deteriorate day by day as winter approaches. The Central Pollution Control Board on Tuesday said that the AQI recorded on Tuesday was 317, dropping to the ‘very poor’ category with 27 monitoring stations falling in the red zone. The areas which fall under the ‘very poor’ category include Mundka, Bawana, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, Anand Vihar, Alipur, Ashok Vihar, Aya Nagar, Burari, Dwarka, Mandir Marg.
Opposition criticizes the ruling party
Congress leaders described the actions by the state government as “Tughlaqi firman,” reflecting their belief that the government’s approach is misguided.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda argued that many farmers resort to burning stubble out of necessity and they need solutions rather than penalties.
“Farmers take such steps under compulsion. Instead of imposing fines on farmers, filing FIRs against them and red-listing them, the government should work on a solution to this. At present, the machines that the government is talking about providing for the disposal of stubble are not proving to be effective. The number of machines is also very low. Especially small farmers are unable to use them,” Hooda said.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi also blamed stubble-burning, diesel buses, and brick kilns in Haryana where the BJP is in power. However, she gave a clean chit to AAP-ruled Punjab. She blamed BJP’s “dirty politics” for growing pollution in the national capital region.
