NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday wrote a letter to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar regarding air pollution in Delhi caused due to stubble burning in neighbouring states.
In his letter, Kejriwal asked the Centre to come together and resolve this issue and spread awareness among farmers about the new cost-effective and eco-friendly technique developed by IARI to counter stubble burning.
“The IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) offers a simple and cheap solution to the problem of stubble burning... If we use this chemical, the farmers will not need to buy combine harvesters - which are quite expensive despite heavy subsidy provided by the Central government - and they will also need to use less fertilizers,” Kejriwal wrote in his letter.
This comes two days after Kejriwal went to the institute to see a demonstration of this eco-friendly way of decomposing the crop residue.
The technique involves spraying of Pusa Decomposer which involves making a liquid formulation using Pusa decomposer capsules and readily available inputs, fermenting it over 8-10 days, and then spraying the mixture on fields with crop stubble to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the stubble.
However, time is not on the side of the government as stubble burning has already begun in many parts of North India. “Though there’s very little time left before sowing begins, I believe that if we try together we can prevent crop stubble burning. Farmers in nearby states should be encouraged to use this technology as much as possible,” Kejriwal added. The CM also mentioned that despite his best efforts he has been unable to meet the Union Minister, to discuss the issue in person, as there has been no approval for a meeting from Javadekar’s side.
City to experience ‘poor’ air quality again
The national capital recorded its air quality in the “moderate” category on Saturday morning, while The Ministry of Earth Science’s air quality monitor, SAFAR predicted that it will turn “poor” by Monday. The farm fire count on Friday was around 40.