Chandigarh: On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said that he understands the problems being faced by the farmers in the state, but according to law they must not do such as it amounts to breaking the state’s law by burning crop stubble. “This is a law of National Green Tribunal. My sympathies are with the farmers, but law is law and the law must take its course,” Captain Singh said.

“I have written twice to the Prime Minister, Agriculture Minister and the Food Processing Industries Minister to compensate farmers who do not burn stubble with an additional Rs. 100 per quintal,” he said.

The Punjab chief minister said that if the central government does not agree to the demand of Rs. 100 per quintal compensation to farmers, it will be hard for the state administration to control stubble-burning. But despite all these, many farmers have halted the practice of stubble burning and have switched to converting it into bio-fuel and the practice is very limited as of now, the chief minister said.

As soon as the season of autumn starts, it brings along with it the harvesting period for Kharif crops. But to grow the new crop, the farmers need to clear the waste growth all along their lands, for which they resort to stubble-burning specially in the state of Punjab and Haryana. This step taken by them adds to the already worsening situation of the air pollution in New Delhi and neighboring National Capital Region. These conditions have compelled the NGT to implement strict norms on the burning of the stubble.

However, farmers from Punjab had last week stated that the issue of air pollution is being caused due to vehicles and industries and not due to the stubble-burning as stated by the government.

Air pollution in the city of Delhi has risen to uncontrollable proportions resulting in an alarm over the issue. The city saw air pollution levels that prompted the government to come with several measures to control the situation. It introduced the odd-even rule for the vehicles and was implemented on all vehicles earlier. Then the rule was removed for two-wheelers and was applied only to the cars. But apart from that, the same combinations of problems led to the city being encircled in heavy air pollution carpeting the city skies. This led authorities to give emergency holidays for schools and offices as a precautionary and safety measure.

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