Stubble burning continues in parts of Haryana and Punjab despite Supreme Court criticism
Kaithal: Even though the Supreme Court criticized both state governments for not doing more to address the problem, there were still a number of stubble-burning instances in select areas of Punjab and Haryana.
On Friday, there were reports of stubble burning in the Karnal-Jind road region and Kaithal district.
In a similar vein, stubble burning was seen in the Punjabi villages of Handiaya and Hardo Putli in Amritsar.
The practice of burning agricultural leftovers on farm fields, which results in large emissions of smoke deemed very dangerous for air quality, is the cause of the increase in air pollution caused by stubble burning.
On October 23, the Supreme Court said that everyone has the basic right to live in a clean, pollution-free environment and chastised the governments of Punjab and Haryana for doing little to stop stubble burning in their states.
The Punjab and Haryana governments were also strongly criticized by a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Augustine George Masih for failing to prosecute people for burning their beards and for sometimes merely collecting monetary penalties.
The court said that at least one prosecution would have occurred if the governments of Punjab and Haryana had really been interested in upholding the law.
A lawsuit concerning the city’s air pollution was being heard by the highest court.
Following Diwali, the top court said that it will investigate the pollution caused by Delhi’s transportation system, its surrounding industry, high truck traffic, and open burning of waste.
In response to worries over the declining air quality in the Delhi-NCR area, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said that the Haryana government has started paying farmers Rs 1,000 per acre to refrain from burning stubble.
“We are trying to raise the Rs 1,000 per acre that our government is providing for not burning stubble. In a recent discussion, I also told authorities to give the farmers the required equipment and to increase the subsidy if necessary,” he added.
Saini went on to say that farmers now have access to a number of facilities for efficient stubble management, emphasizing that the Supreme Court has already recognized the state’s efforts in this area.
Punjabi farmers, who said that burning their stubble is a necessity, requested the government to find a long-term solution on October 21.
