WHILE PUNJAB is at its wit’s end over stubble burning, one of the kandi (semi-hilly) area districts of the state has shown the way to manage the crop residue. Pathankot district, which was carved out of Gurdaspur district some years back, has not put its fields on fire this year after harvesting paddy. According to the state agriculture department, though 1,755 FIRs have been registered against farmers this season for burning the straw after harvesting paddy, not a single FIR was registered in Pathankot district. A letter from Pathankot Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office, dated November 29, to additional chief secretary (development) office, Punjab, Chandigarh, stated that there was no case of field fires in Pathankot after paddy harvesting this year and also no FIR was registered against any farmer. DC’s letter (a copy of which is with The Indian Express) also mentioned that even the pictures taken by NASA do not show any fire in Pathankot district. “The agriculture department and district administration have organised a large number of camps this year to educate farmers about the ill-effects of burning paddy straw,” it said. The DC has recommended that Pathankot district be declared pollution free as all its paddy crop residue has been sold to the Gujjar community (which rears a large number of cattle) at Rs 4,200 per acre that fetches nearly Rs 112 crores to the farmers of the district. “There were 27,000 hectares under paddy in Pathankot which produced around 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of paddy straw and farmers got the benefit of around Rs 112 crore by not burning the straw. Also, they have saved the use of fertilisers and pesticides as well as crop friendly insects by not putting the fields on fire,” said Pathankot agriculture department officer Dr Amrik Singh, adding that farmers were not only educated through camps but also via WhatsApp messages. A letter from Punjab Pollution Control Board, Batala, also mentioned that no fire was reported in Pathnakot this year. Even a letter from the Senior Medical Officer, Pathnakot, dated November 28, mentioned that there was no alarming rise in pollution-related diseases in the district, especially related to the burning of paddy straw. The agriculture department has already prepared a case in which action plan was prepared to control stubble burning and demanded Rs 1,602-crore from the Centre to provide subsidised machinery, which helps in straw management, to the farmers.
