Planning based on data analysis, proper balance between ex situ and in situ stubble management strategy and direct interaction with farmers has resulted in a record 57.57 percent reduction in stubble burning cases in district Sri Muktsar Sahib compared to last year. Sri Muktsar Sahib has been ranked among the top districts registering the highest shortfall of stubble burning incidents.
District Deputy Commissioner Dr Ruhee Dugg said that the most important thing for achieving any goal is planning which should be based on accurate data and facts. Following this principle, the district administration started planning in advance from the month of September and now that the last stage of the season has come, the district is in a better position in curbing the farm fire cases.
"Last year till November 22, 3781 stubble burning cases were registered in the district, while this year the number is only 1604. Similarly, last year the number of hotspot villages in the district was 46 which has been reduced to only 5 this year" she added. She said that the biggest emphasis from the district was given on the study-based analysis of the available data of the last 2 years and the data of current year.
With this, those villages and farmers were identified where this trend of stubble burning is more and this makes us easy to plan and execute accordingly. Chief Agriculture Officer of the district Gurpreet Singh said that 1.07 lakh hectares of paddy and 90 thousand hectares of Basmati were cultivated in the district and the target was to produce 11.19 lakh metric tonnes of stubble. Half of it was managed by ex situ technique.
Under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner, with the coordination with industry, bales of stubble were made and sent on time to dump sites to evacuate the farms for sowing. Apart from this, 1274 machines were also provided on subsidy this year in the district by the Punjab Government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann for in situ management of the remaining half of the stubble.
The Deputy Commissioner said that after arranging the machinery and other planning, the major challenge was to entertain the doubts of the farmers regarding new paddy management techniques and motivate them to use the machinery. Therefore, along with cluster officers, nodal officers, Deputy Commissioner, SSP, all SDMs, circle revenue officers, block development and panchayat officers also spent the last few days in the fields and continuously interacted directly with the farmers to brief them the benefits of not burning stubble.
These teams stop more than 250 fire incidents also during their visits. Apart from this, more than 200 farmers who have not been burning stubble for many years were identified with the old data and the initiative to honor these farmers for protecting the environment also strengthened the relationship between the administration and the farmers.
In the same way, the agriculture department made efforts to change the thinking of the farmers by organizing monthly camps in every village right from the sowing of paddy and gave information about the crop. Farmer wives were also contacted through asha workers and parents were encouraged not to burn stubble through school students. The Deputy Commissioner said that now about 75 percent of the wheat has been sown and therefore there is no lack of availability of machines, so the team of the district will work hard in the next few days to meet the remaining target.
She also thanked the farmers who have become protectors of the environment by supporting the administration and said that by doing this the farmers have taken care not only of their surroundings but also of their own health and the health of their soil. She assured that the administration will continue to help those farmers in every way who protect our environment by not burning the stubble.