As Delhi gasps for air, Punjab's finance minister Manpreet Badal suggests ways to check stubble burning
"Punjab has offered three options to the Centre and the ball is in the Centre's court," Manpreet Badal said. Read on to find out what those options are.
"We have already suggested that Punjab can stop producing paddy. If there is no paddy there will be no crop stubble burning that's causing pollution. We are ready to end paddy growing."
That's what Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal told India Today, when asked about the Centre's advice to his state to stop disposing of paddy straw by burning the stubble.
Delhi is gasping for air. If the burning of straw stubble is choking the skies in North India, the Centre is finding it increasingly difficult to push Punjab, Haryana and UP to convince their farmers to end the practice.
INCENTIVES
States are telling the Centre in no uncertain terms to pay for incentives for farmers to stop stubble burning.
Responding to the Centre's advisory, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said his state "has offered three options to the Centre and the ball is in the Centre's court."
"We have already suggested that Punjab can stop growing paddy."
The other two options are tough to execute.
"We are facing a desperate situation. There are over 20 lakh tonnes of paddy straw waiting for disposal. The Centre can use the MNREGA to incentivise farmers. Or it can simply impose a cess to create a corpus to pay farmers."
The first proposal consists of offering MNREGA job cards to farmers in areas where paddy is grown, and stubble burning is prevalent. The idea is that farmers can be given job cards, and be paid Rs 265 as a daily wage for removing paddy straw. This "will provide enough incentive to farmers not to burn the stubble," Badal explained.
The other suggestion is that the Centre could impose a minor cess (of a few paise) on diesel. "The money garnered can be given to farmers as (an) incentive. A small amount like that wouldn't hurt the consumers," Badal said.
When asked whether states like Punjab are ready to shoulder a part of the burden the incentives will build, Badal's response was a cryptic no. "For each quintal of paddy, Punjab is using a 1000 litres of its water. Land in the state has turned poisonous, and Punjab can't be expected to suffer further," he said.
HARYANA'S PLEA
Punjab isn't alone in responding to the Centre's call by making demands. Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar, too, has petitioned the Modi government to allow the utilisation of labour under MNREGA for paddy straw disposal - for a period of one month.
In a note to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Rural Development Minister Narender Singh Tomar, Dhankar has proposed that elected representatives of villages can supply residue (collected at a designated place) to industrial units, including power plants or brick kilns.
Dhankar has echoed what the Punjab government wants. In his note, he says that when farmers purchase paddy, they need to be given an incentive for managing paddy straw.
Since Haryana is ruled by the BJP, the state agriculture minister's tone is less aggressive.
Dhankar has said that in Haryana, every possible step is being taken to stop farmers from burning paddy straw. He has informed the Centre that the Haryana government is providing a subsidy of Rs 75 crore for disposing of residue, with an additional subsidy of Rs 10 crore for purchasing implements.
WAR OF WORDS
Meanwhile, a political war of words has begun between chief ministers - each one trying to place the onus of cleaning the air on the other.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal targeted the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana.
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of CMs of concerned states. He also attacked Kejriwal, saying he was "a peculiar man" who had "a view on things which he doesn't know much about."
Singh was responding to Kejriwal's remarks on the Punjab government's failure to provide farmers with viable alternatives to paddy straw burning. WATCH | Arvind Kejriwal: Delhi has turned into a gas chamber