Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Fearing government action against stubble burning, many farmers have started doing so at night when officers normally don’t visit sites.
The government has started filing cases against incidents of stubble burning. However, late in the evening, one can easily spot stubble burning in the outer areas of Bhopal and other cities. This is probably the safest time to escape the prying eyes of the administration.
In a recent meeting, the CM had announced that any farmer found burning stubble on his farmland will be deprived of the benefit of the Kisan Samman Nidhi, and their crops also won’t be purchased at the Minimum Support Price.
When contacted, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh State President Kamal Singh Anjana said the government will provide some resources to farmers to tackle the remnants of crops standingin fields.
However, he argued that the burning of crop residue here isn’t the same as that in Haryana or Punjab. In Madhya Pradesh, the crop residue is thin and gets destroyed in a small fire.
In Haryana and Punjab, the stubble is thick and takes a long time to burn. Moreover, the argumentthat field fire destroys the fertility is baseless, he claimed.
Satellite help to detect fires
Principal Secretary of Environment, Navneet Kothari, said that field fires are being detected with the help of satellite, and the images are being forwarded to the Collector of the concerned district. The onus of taking action is on the Collector.
However, he conceded, since satellite help is being taken for the first time, a larger number of stubble burning cases will get registered incomparison to the previous years.
