Patiala- A team of the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi is going to visit Punjab soon. The team is being led by Chairperson Rajesh Verma and will review the measures required to assess the ongoing paddy stubble management initiatives across the state and increase the use of stubble as fuel in the energy sector.
The team will first visit the Nabha Thermal Plant to check the use of pellets made from stubble for generating energy. After this, the team will visit a bio-energy plant owned by a German company in Sangrur and a refinery in Bathinda.
Gurnam Singh, head of the Paddy Stubble Management Cell of the Commission for Air Quality Management, confirmed this and said that the aim of this visit is to assess the status of the ongoing stubble management initiatives in the state.
The Commission for Air Quality Management had on Friday suggested a three-pronged action plan and directed Punjab authorities to simultaneously register FIRs, impose fines and make red entries in revenue records against farmers involved in stubble burning.
After witnessing an increasing trend for over a week, there was a decline in the incidents of stubble burning today, with only 94 cases of stubble burning reported across the state.
After touching a season-high of 442 on October 31, the number came down to 178 on Sunday, 256 on Monday and again increased to 321 on Tuesday. It is worth noting that 2000 cases were registered in the last eight days alone.
Pollution control authorities have also taken action to impose fines against farmers on Tuesday and today. The Punjab Pollution Control Board has imposed environmental compensation in 143 new cases, taking the total to 1152, and fines of over Rs 60 lakh have been imposed. The police have registered 131 new FIRs, taking the total to 896. The revenue department has registered a total of 1087 red entries against violators, including 141 fresh cases.
The authorities were on high alert in anticipation of a spike in stubble burning incidents due to the public holiday of Gurpurab. However, 18 incidents were registered in Moga on the day, 16 each in Sangrur and Muktsar. 10 incidents of stubble burning were reported in Ludhiana.
The total number of stubble burning cases so far has reached 2933, which is 61 per cent less than last year. Last year, 4755 incidents were registered during the same period.
Most of the cases this season have been reported in Sangrur (526), ??Tarn Taran (509), Ferozepur (297), Amritsar (254), Bathinda (201), and Patiala (168).