NEW DELHI: Punjab and Haryana govts have, so far, this year imposed a cumulative penalty of over Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 21 lakh, respectively, on farmers for stubble burning and collected more than 50% of these amounts from violators.
Sharing the data in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the environment ministry in response to a Parliament question informed the House that Punjab reported 10,909 fire incidents this year as on November 30 whereas Haryana reported 1,406 such cases during the period, and the authorities have inspected nearly all the fields before imposing environmental compensation (penalty) in 5,525 and 638 cases, respectively.
The ministry had last month doubled the penalty for burning paddy straw by farmers.Under the new rules, the farmers having farmland of less than two acres will have to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 per incidence if they are found to be indulged in stubble burning. On the other hand, those having two acres or more but less than five acres of land will have to pay Rs 10,000 per incidence whereas those having more than five acres of land will have to pay Rs 30,000 per incidence.
Though the state governments had imposed penalty in higher number of cases in the past in commensurate with reporting of quite a high number of stubble burning episodes in both Punjab and Haryana, the reported decline in the farm fires numbers this year could be a result of gradual strengthening of both in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy straw through various measures.
Past data shows that the Punjab government had collected Rs 3.1 crore, Rs 2.8 crore and Rs 1.7 crore from 12,106 cases; 10,244 cases and 6,695 cases in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. The state had reported 83,002; 71,304 and 49,922 incidents of farm fires in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Similarly, the Haryana government had also collected a much higher amount as penalty from a higher number of cases in the past. The state had reported 4,202 incidents of stubble burning in 2020 and collected Rs 86 lakh as penalty from 464 cases.
