BackPunjab CM quashes stubble burning cases against farmers
Punjab CM also dropped all FIRs against farmers, registered in the state during their protests against the Centre's three farm laws
PremiumPunjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday quashed all the cases related to protest and stubble burning against farmers. He also dropped all FIRs against farmers, registered in the state during their protests against the Centre's three farm laws. However, CM Channi opposed the stubble burning process and requested farmers to discontinue it.
"All cases lodged in connection with farmers' protests are being quashed...We want no farmer to burn stubble, we'll be strict. But cases lodged so far in connection with stubble burning, are being quashed. I request them to not burn stubble, it causes pollution," the Punjab Chief Minister said on Thursday.
Channi's statement comes amid rising incidents of stubble burning with Punjab recording over 69,000 such incidents this season. Stubble burning is banned but many farmers continue to flout it.
To curb the practice, the Punjab government has so far imposed an environmental compensation of ₹2.46 crore on erring growers, according to the Punjab Pollution Control Board.
Though the number of farm fires this year so far is less than last year, it has crossed the 2019 figures.
Punjab had seen 76,590 incidents of field fires in 2020 as compared to 52,991 in 2019, as per the data. The farm fires continued unabated despite the state government deputing nodal officers across Punjab to check these and giving more machines for management of crop residue.
Farmers burn paddy stubble to clear their fields to sow the next crop, but the fumes of these fires cause air pollution.
According to farmers, it is not feasible for them, especially small and marginal growers, to purchase farm machinery for the management of crop residue.
"We want the government to give us ₹200 per quintal as bonus for management of paddy straw," said Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan.
Farmers of Punjab and Haryana are often blamed for causing air pollution by burning paddy straw. Punjab alone generates an estimated 20 million tonnes of paddy stubble annually.
However, yesterday, the Supreme Court took exception to farmers being blamed for stubble burning amidst the air pollution crisis in the Delhi-NCR, saying "people sitting in five-star facilities in Delhi keep on accusing farmers" without taking note of their plight.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said nobody is concerned whether farmers would be able to procure machines for stubble management.
"People sitting in five star and seven facilities in Delhi keep on accusing the farmers that this much is attributable to them. Have you seen their earnings per landholding? How will they afford these machines? If there is any actual scientific-based alternative please go and convince them," said the bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by environmental activist Aditya Dubey and law student Aman Banka, who sought directions to provide stubble-removing machines to small and marginal farmers for free.
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