After the Supreme Court's stricture, the central government has doubled the fine on farmers who burn stubble. The Ministry of Environment has given this information by issuing a notification on Thursday.
Now a fine of Rs 5000 will be levied on land less than 2 acres. A fine of Rs 10,000 will be levied on owners of two to five acres of land and Rs 30,000 on owners of more than five acres. The governments of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi will be bound to implement these rules.
In fact, during the hearing on November 4, the Supreme Court had asked Punjab-Haryana to file its reply on Parali by November 14. Earlier on October 23, the Supreme Court had given two weeks' time to the central government to frame regulations under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) on air pollution and appoint responsible officials.
The Supreme Court said – do not force a strict order In the hearing held on October 23, the Supreme Court did not seem satisfied with the action of the Haryana government. “Don't compel us to give a strict order,” the court said. A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice A Amanullah and Justice AG Masih termed the Punjab and Haryana government's efforts to stop stubble burning in farms as mere gimmicks.
The court said, if these governments are really interested in enforcing the law, at least one case should go ahead. The Supreme Court even said that now is the time to remind the central Punjab and Haryana governments that living in a pollution-free environment is a fundamental right of citizens. Living in pollution is a gross violation of fundamental rights under Article 21.
Satellite images of stubble burning incidents in Haryana and Punjab. This picture is from October 23.
The Supreme Court told the Haryana government two things…
1. Your stats change every minute The Chief Secretary of Haryana told the Supreme Court that 400 incidents of crop burning have taken place in the state and 32 FIRs have been registered in the state. The Supreme Court told the Chief Secretary that their figures are changing every minute.
The government is doing pick and choose. Fines are being collected from few people and FIRs are being registered against very few people. The Supreme Court said it was concerned about registering FIRs against some people and imposing paltry fines on some.
2. What did you give the farmers? The Supreme Court asked the Chief Secretary of Haryana, what is being done about khira and has anything been given to the farmers? On this, the Chief Secretary said that nearly 1 lakh machines have been provided for disposal of stubble, due to which incidents of stubble burning have reduced.
The Supreme Court told the Punjab government 4 important things…
1. Small fine levied, 600 people saved The Supreme Court told the Punjab Chief Secretary that 1,080 FIRs were registered in the state, but you have levied meager fines from only 473 people. You are saving 600 or more people. The Supreme Court said that this shows that you are giving a signal to stubble burners that nothing will be done against them. This has been happening for the last three years.
2. The Advocate General should state on whose instructions the false statement was made The Supreme Court also reprimanded the Advocate General and Chief Secretary of Punjab. The court asked the Advocate General to state on the instructions of which officer he had given the false statement regarding seeking machines and funds from the Centre. The Chief Secretary should state which officer asked the Advocate General to do so. We will issue him a contempt notice.
The Supreme Court also expressed displeasure with senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of the Punjab government. The court said that the state government does not appear serious. Earlier, the Advocate General said that no case has been registered against anyone. Now you are saying that 5 cases have been reported this year. The Supreme Court also referred to an earlier affidavit of the Punjab government in which no case was filed.
Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha.
3. Did 9 thousand people find only 9 events? The Supreme Court further asked that the monitoring committee at the village level was mentioned in the affidavit. When did the government order? When was the committee formed? Who is its nodal officer? In this regard, Advocate Singhvi said that 9 thousand committees have been formed. We will file an affidavit with complete details. On that Supreme Court said that 9 thousand people got only 9 incidents?
4. You also falsified the ISRO report, released 400 people The Supreme Court reprimanded the Punjab government and said that it also rejected ISRO's satellite report. A lawyer for the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said that 400 incidents have occurred in Amritsar. The court asked how many incidents had happened in recent times. In this regard, Advocate Singhvi said, 1510 incidents took place and 1,080 cases were registered. On that the Supreme Court said that in this too you expelled 400 people. On this, Singhvi said that some of the reports are false.
Vice Chancellor Bishnoi said- Oxygen deficiency in 400 AQI Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU) Vice Chancellor Environmental Expert Prof. Senior citizens face the most problems due to air pollution, says Narasiram Bishnoi. When the AQI level reaches around 400 there is a lack of oxygen.
Gradually infections and bronchitis (inflammation of the respiratory tract) develop. There is a burning sensation in the eyes. Straw alone is not responsible for pollution, but there are many causes. Stubble is considered dangerous because burning it releases toxic gases into the atmosphere.
What steps have Haryana and Punjab governments taken to prevent stubble burning?
3 big claims of Haryana Govt
1. FIR against 150 farmers, 29 arrested The Haryana government claims that so far FIRs have been registered against around 150 farmers in the state. In which 29 people have been arrested and 380 have been redlisted. In the last 24 hours, FIRs have been registered against 46 farmers in Kurukshetra, 10 in Jind, 3 in Sirsa, 2 in Fatehabad. A case has been registered against 3 women farmers in Sirsa.
Investigation revealed that land was leased by women farmers. Now the police will call the tenant farmers. At the same time, a case of stubble burning was registered against a woman farmer in Palwal. 5 farmers have been arrested in Karnal, 2 each in Sonipat and Kaithal. However, he got bail after some time. So far, farmers who burn crop residues have been given Rs. A fine of 8.35 lakhs has been imposed.
2. 24 officers and employees of Agriculture Department suspended A day ago, the agriculture department suspended 24 officers and employees. These officers range from Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) to Agriculture Supervisors as well as employees. Action has been taken against the officials of 9 districts on behalf of Director of Agriculture Department Raj Narayan Kaushik.
This includes officers and employees of Panipat, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Ambala, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra and Sonepat. Action has been taken against officials and employees for not taking action on increasing cases of stubble burning.
3. Cases reduced by half in three years The cases in the state have come down to less than half in 3 years. In 2021, the state has reported 1,508 cases of stubble burning since September 15. After that, 893 cases were reported in 2022 and 714 in 2023, but now the figure has stalled at 665 in 2024. Continuous raids are being conducted by the government to reduce this figure.
Punjab government said – 10.55 lakh fine, red entry in revenue record of 394 rupees Punjab Police Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla says that till now the police have registered 874 cases of stubble burning. A fine of 10.55 lakhs has been imposed. A red entry has been made in the revenue records of 394 farmers. Not only action is being taken against people, but they are also being made aware, so that the environment can be saved from pollution.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
