NEW DELHI: The Delhi and Punjab governments have joined hands to use Pusa bio-decomposer -- a microbial solution that can decompose paddy straw in 15 to 20 days -- on 5,000 acres to prevent stubble burning, a major cause of air pollution. The move comes days after the Centre rejected the request of the two states to help them provide cash incentives to farmers in Punjab for not burning stubble.
As part of a pilot project to be implemented with the help of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), bio-decomposer will be sprayed over 5,000 acres or 2,023 hectares of land in Punjab. This year, the total area under paddy cultivation in Punjab is pegged at 29-30 lakh hectares. The state on an average generates around 20 million tons of paddy straw annually.
“Joint meeting with Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal ji and officials of IARI Pusa regarding stubble pollution. Free spraying of bio-decomposer will be done in some areas of Punjab as a pilot project this year under the supervision of IARI,” Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai tweeted.
Dhaliwal met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Rai on Wednesday night in New Delhi and discussed ways to resolve the stubble burning issue. In July, the Delhi and Punjab governments had jointly sent a proposal to the Centre and the Commission for Air Quality Management to help them give cash incentive to farmers in the agrarian state for not burning stubble.
Farmers say a cash incentive can help them cover the cost of fuel used in operating the machinery for the in-situ management of paddy straw.According to officials of the Punjab government, the Centre rejected the proposal saying it has been providing susidised machinery to farmers, such as happy seeder, rotavator and mulcher, for the in-situ management of paddy straw and that it didn’t have money to dole out cash incentives.