Jalandhar, September 27, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
In a bid to save the environment from the hazardous gases produced from stubble burning, the district administration is geared up to take stringent action against the combines operating without installing a super straw management system in the district.
Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori has directed concerned departments to impound combines found working without the super SMS besides constituting special teams to check the combines operating in the fields.
Divulging more, Deputy Commissioner said that amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was necessary to curtail the stubble burning instances that could worsen the situation by polluting air quality, especially putting people with co-morbidity at higher risk.
Any laxity in this task was highly unwarranted adding the deputy commissioner said that if a combine found operating in the fields without the requisite equipment will be seized immediately besides imposition of heavy penalties and lodging of FIRs against the erring combine operators.
Thori mentioned that harvesting of paddy crops is done mainly by using combine harvesters and when Super SMS is attached on the backside of the combine, it chops the paddy straw into very minute pieces, which makes it easier for other machines to operate in the fields. The Super SMS can alone hold the potential to do away with the stubble burning trend as other sowing machines could directly sow wheat seedlings while plowing the existing residue in the field.
The Deputy Commissioner further called upon farmers and the combine operators to avail the benefit of a 50 percent subsidy scheme on a super straw management system so that the system is utilized widely in the farms.
Pointing out further, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Surinder Singh said that the cost of super SMS was 1.15 Lakhs, and the state government was offering a 50 percent subsidy on it, which was crucial financial assistance to the farmers and combine operators in buying this system.
He further mentioned that a total of 4.25 Lakhs hectare agriculture land was under the paddy cultivation that accounts for 12.75 Lakhs tons of stubble production in the district. Emphasizing the need for a super straw management system, Dr. Singh said that it was the best of the techniques in stubble management in the fields doing away with the burning trend.
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