EDUCATION, HEALTH, COOPERATION, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS ASKED TO PULL UP THEIR SOCKS FOR CHECKING THIS MENACE

Jalandhar
In order to make the people aware of the hazardous effects of the paddy straw burning, the Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma has asked the key departments like Education, Health, Cooperation, Rural Development and others to embark a mass awareness campaign against paddy straw burning.

In a communiqué, the Deputy Commissioner has asked these departments to pull up their socks to make the people aware of the damage caused to human health and environment due to paddy straw burning. He has asked the Education department to make the students aware about the hazards of paddy straw burning during the time of Morning Prayer, so that the aware students could then disseminate the message to their parents. Likewise, Mr. Sharma has directed the Health department to make the people aware of the damaging effects caused to human health by this unwarranted practice.

The Deputy Commissioner has also asked the Rural Development and Panchayat department to make sure that announcements were made from the Gurdawaras and Temples in the villages for motivating the farmers to shun this practice. Likewise, he has also asked the department to felicitate the Panchayats of villages where no paddy straw was burnt. Mr. Sharma has also asked the Agriculture department to carry forward its mission to make the farmers aware of the negative effects of paddy straw burning.

The Deputy Commissioner said that thrust must laid to make the farmers aware that due to burning of paddy straw 17 nutrients and several other micro nutrients of soil were destroyed which increases the input cost farmers in term of fertilizers by Rs 1800 per acre. He said that the burning of paddy straw produces 70,000 MG particulate matter which has adverse effect on human health. Mr. Sharma said that Cooperative department must also play a proactive role in making all its members aware of the strict directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to stop this practice.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the farmers must be apprised that as per directions of the National Green Tribunal any farmer indulging in practice of straw burning would be levied environment cess worth Rs 2500 per incidence if their land was below two acre adding that cess worth Rs 5000 and Rs 15000 per incidence would be imposed on farmers having land between two to five acres and above five acres respectively. Mr. Sharma also said that the farmers must also be made aware that paddy straw burning would also invite red entry in Revenue records if any farmers indulge in this practice.