Principal Secretary (Planning) Punjab Government Mr. Jaspal Singh said that it was the responsibility of each and every person to inherit a healthy and clean environment to the coming generations. He was here today to review the activities being under taken to curb the trend of setting fire to paddy straw/waste at District Administrative Complex Hoshiarpur. Deputy Commissioner Mrs Isha Kalia, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Gen) Mr. Harpreet Singh Sudan were also present on the occasion. Principal Secretary Mr. Jaspal Singh said that there was a time when there was no water scarcity problem as our elders left a healthy environment for us in heritage, but today the condition of even the underwater is that at many places the bottled water is used for drinking. “We all need to jointly deal with this critical situation. It is the responsibility of every person to inherit a healthy environment to the coming generations so that they do not have to suffer due to lack of clean water, soil and air. To provide our future generations a healthy life, it is very important to give up the the straw/residue burning. The Principal Secretary said that a plan would be prepared not to allow sowing paddy on the panchayat land being offered on lease in the villages. The DDPOs have been asked to make farmers aware on their own level, so that the trend of straw burning may be curbed.
He directed the nodal officers and co-ordinating officers appointed to check straw burning to conduct regular visits and keep strict surveillance over the villages concerned. He said that the combine harvesters without Super SMS straw reaper should be seized immediately. He also directed agriculture department to make the farmers in the areas nearby the Kandi Canal, aware on crop diversification and micro irrigation. He also directed the BDPOs to act seriously to spread awareness in the villages to tackle the trend of straw burning. He reviewed the activities being done by the Punjab Pollution Control Board and directed that strict action should be taken along with heavy fines as per the rules when the case of straw burning comes up. He directed the Agriculture Department to make the farmers aware of customer hiring centres, so that the needy farmers could hire the paddy straw / waste management machines from these centres. Deputy Commissioner Mrs Isha Kalia said 61 farm machinery banks have been set up in the district. In these banks, 209 machines were provided at 80% subsidy. In addition, individually 30 machines have been provided at 50% subsidy. Village Wise 595 Nodal Officers have been appointed to make the farmers aware about the damage caused by the straw burning. In addition to this, 32 coordinating officers have also been deployed in the district of which one such officer has been deployed over every set of 20 villages to assist the nodal officers. Nodal officers, co-ordinating officers and leading farmers were also present on this occasion besides the officials of Agriculture Department and Punjab Pollution Control Board.