Punjab and central governments have enrolled various departments to educate farmers to stop stubble burning, irrespective of their portfolios. Goods and Services Tax (GST) Commissionerate in Ludhiana has purchased two seeder machines and given them to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Samrala, while Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) has deputed their officials to talk to farmers. Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has taken a task to make at least 5,000 acres stubble burning-free. Apart from this, cooperative banks, agriculture and revenue departments, pollution control board etc are already on the job. The GST Commissionerate has identified ‘Prevention of stubble burning’ as one of the projects under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan 2018, under which, in collabration with PAU, two happy seeders have been provided to the KVK last week. “The idea is to provide these seeder machines to farmers free of cost. This way, the farmers will be discouraged to burn stubble,” said Deputy Commissioner, GST Commissionerate, Amanjit Singh. PSPCL CMD Baldev Singh Saran said, “Our chief engineers and superintending engineers, in collabration with the agriculture department, are going to villages to educate farmers. This is our initiative to reduce air pollution.” CII in collabration with ReNew Power, an independent power producer, has also taken up a project, ‘Clean air better life’ to make 5,000 acres stubble-burning free. “We have taken up the task to educate 500 big farmers,” said Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Chief Sustainablity Officer of ReNew Power, who chairs the CII task force.
