Despite the Haryana Government clamping down on erring farmers, who are burning farm stubble even after the “carpet-ban”, the farmers in Kurukshetra district are burning the bio-mass at large scale. With this the district has emerged third in the State in the number of cases of stubble burning being reported preceded by Karnal and Kaithal which tops the chart.
The farmers are also alleging that the Government’s decision to ban burning of paddy stubble has resulted in crisis as they are avoiding harvesting with combine harvesters, which spreads paddy straw in fields, and make it difficult for farmers as they had to clean the field manually before sowing the next crop .
However, the Government has assured that they were providing subsidies on the happy seeders and straw reapers, but farmers allege that announcements remain only on paper so far there is no availability of these machines to common famer.
“There are no straw reapers even in nearby villages and we cannot wait as fields need to be prepared for the next crop cycle. Those who have these machines they are busy in cutting their own fields,” said Gurdev Singh, a farmer at Dugari village in Ladwa near Kurukshetra.
“I have 3 acres of land I cannot afford to buy or hire a machine. The department is advertising their Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) but so far I haven’t seen any. In neighbouring village I had contacted a farmer who had bought machine from government to cut crop but he refused to lend me as he is busy in cutting his crop. So now what option am I left with,” said Sanjeev Mehla, a farmer at Gudha village.
On Wednesday authorities were put on their toes after several stubble burning incidents were reported in the Kurukshetra district. According to sources in agriculture department, the farmers were found burning stubble in area of Thanesar, Shahbad and Pehowa.
“The district authorities from September 15 to till date have issued challan to 258 farmers and the authorities have also collected fine around Rs 1.10 lakh so far. Most of the stubble burning cases reported are in small piece of land ranging from half to one acre,” said Karam Chand Garg, Deputy Director Agriculture, Kurukshetra.
Whereas Gurnam Chaduni, Haryana president of Bharat Kisan Union (BKU) said that machines can only cut 7-8 acres in a day and for two villages there is one machine making it difficult for farmers as they have a small window of 10-15 days to prepare field and sow the next crop.
“The government has imposed its decision, we feel that they should have consulted farmers before implementing any such decisions on not burning of farm stubble. The farmers would have given a solution to stubble burning issue,” said Chaduni.
