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Farmers get Rs 50-lakh incentive

Farmers’ wait to get cash incentive for not burning paddy straw has finally ended, as the Ambala administration has disbursed the first instalment to eligible ones.

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Nitin Jain

Farmers’ wait to get cash incentive for not burning paddy straw has finally ended, as the Ambala administration has disbursed the first instalment to eligible ones.

In the first lot, around 1,200 environment-friendly small and marginal peasants have got a sum of Rs 50 lakh for supporting the government’s initiative of crop residue management.

It was on November 11, that Haryana decided to provide Rs 1,000 per acre operational charges for crop residue management for in-situ and ex-situ purposes besides providing support of Rs 100 per quintal to small and marginal farmers, who have not burned stubble in their fields. But most of the farmers, owning upto 5 acres of land in the district, are unsure of the implementation of the government offer.

According to official information, 96 farmers have been incentivised with Rs 2,97,222 in Shahzadpur, 21 given Rs 99,412 in Ambala Cantonment, 51 in Barara given Rs 2,06,841 and 21 peasants in Karasan Rs 99,463. As many as 369 in Naraingarh have been given Rs 15,28,240, 16 in Kesri Rs 84,670, three in Barheri given Rs 19,125, 27 in Talheri Rs 1,01,536 and 89 in Mullana were given Rs 3,94,317.

The incentive has been distributed through Hafed, District Food and Civil Supplies Department and the Warehouse Corporation. While Hafed covered maximum 693 farmers, 370 and 81 peasants have been incentivised by the District Food and Civil Supplies Department and the Warehouse Corporation so far. 

“All these farmers sold their paddy between November 6 and 15 and have not burnt their crop residue,” said Divisonal Commissioner Deepti Umashankar.

She said nodal officers have been deputed across district to ensure that farmers do not burn the crop residue and identify those eligible for the cash incentive.

CS reviews progress

Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora reviewed the progress of the incentive distribution and action against farm fires in Ambala district this week. She directed the district administration to identify all environmental-friendly peasants, who had not resorted to farm fires and ensure that they get incentivised under the government scheme, while all those who burnt and continue to burn stubble should be dealt with sternly.


The scheme

  • The cash incentive will be given to only those small and marginal farmers, who have sold their paddy after November 6 or will be selling their paddy till November 15 in the mandis, which is procured by the government. The scheme is available to those farmers, who have not burnt the crop residue. This amount will be released by the district-level executive committee after due verification by the village-level nodal officer.
  • As per the state government’s directive, consolidated report shall be sent to the office of ACS, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, so that funds can be released for reimbursement of the operational cost.
  • A control room has been set up and nodal officer appointed for this purpose in the district.

Farm fires less but on

  • Sharing the details of the action taken report, Ambala Agriculture Deputy Director Girish Nagpal said a total of 106 farm fires have been captured this year so far as compared to 151 reported during the corresponding period last year.
  • While 22 habitual offenders were booked in police cases, the first time, 84 violators were slapped Rs 2,12,500 as fine.
  • As per norms, Rs 2,500 fine is slapped on the errant farmer owning upto 2 acres of land, Rs 5,000 for those having upto 5 acres and Rs 15,000 fine on those owning over 5 acres.
  • He said though stubble burning incidents have decreased by almost 30 per cent in the district as compared to last year, the department has intensified its drive to crack the whip against those who continue to violate the ban on crop residue burning.
  • “We have fanned out in the fields to check the situation and those failing to adhere to the repeated requests and warnings are being taken to task,” he said.
  • According to the official, the department files police cases against habitual offenders, while those caught for the first time are fined.

Air quality ‘moderate’

With the cases of crop residue burning coming down, the air quality in Ambala turned “moderate” at 157 last week from “poor” at 289 and “very poor” category at 332 a week before that.


Figures at a glance

Farm fires: 106 Last year: 151

Police cases: 22 AQI: 157 (moderate)

Fine: Rs 2,12,500 lakh from 84 farmers

#Source: Official data

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