India News | Centre Should Provide Financial Assistance to Punjab Farmers for Stubble Management: State Minister
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Punjab Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Tuesday said the Centre should provide financial assistance to farmers of the state for stubble management.
Chandigarh, Oct 11 (PTI) Punjab Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Tuesday said the Centre should provide financial assistance to farmers of the state for stubble management.
"Pollution caused by stubble burning is not a problem of one state alone, but of the entire country," he said.
He said the state government is constantly taking steps to prevent farmers from burning paddy stubble, but this campaign can get a big boost only if the central government provides financial assistance to the farmers.
He further said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had requested the Centre to provide financial assistance for stubble management before the paddy sowing season, a Punjab government statement quoting him as saying.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday held discussions with environment ministers of Delhi, Punjab and NCR states for curbing stubble burning and vehicular, industrial and dust pollution ahead of winters when the national capital and surrounding areas see a steep fall in air quality.
Hayer joined the meeting through video conferencing.
The Punjab minister said the state government has already provided more than 90,000 machines for stubble management to farmers on a huge subsidy.
A target of providing more than 32,000 additional machines to farmers has been set. Apart from this, emphasis is being laid on setting up electricity and biogas plants to use straw as fuel.
Besides, the use of straw as 20 per cent fuel for brick kilns is being made mandatory.
Hayer said people's participation is also very important to prevent the problem of pollution caused by stubble burning, for which an awareness campaign has also been launched by involving the students of colleges.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)