Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had ”officially refused” to use bio-decomposer to prevent stubble burning in Punjab.
Kejriwal had Wednesday blamed the central government for rising incidents of stubble burning in Punjab ruled by his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying it had ”declined” requests to provide cash incentive to farmers for not burning crop residue.
”The Delhi CM had earlier written a letter to the Centre, saying the implementation of Pusa bio-decomposer had been successful in Delhi. But he himself officially refused to use it in Punjab,” the Union minister told reporters here.
Prepared by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) here, the Pusa bio-decomposer is a microbial solution which can turn paddy straw into manure in 15-20 days.
An official said the ministry had repeatedly asked the Punjab government to scale up the use of bio-decomposer but ”they are only doing it on an experimental basis on 5,000 acres of land”. Asked why Punjab is not using it, the official said, ”The state has said it is not effective.”
Farmers in Punjab say paddy stubble can be decomposed in around 20 days without using bio-decomposer. The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) had conducted trials on several bio-decomposers, including the one prepared by the IARI, in 2020 and 2021 and had submitted a report to the state government, saying ”there is no considerable reduction in the time taken to decompose the stubble and the impact on the yield is non-significant”.
The official quoted above said the bio-decomposer is being used in five lakh acres of land in the NCR districts of Haryana and four lakh acres in Uttar Pradesh. ”The experience of Haryana and UP shows it should be implemented. As of now, we have no reason to discard it without making a sincere effort,” he said.
In Delhi, the solution is being used on 5,000 acres of basmati and non-basmati fields this year. It was used on 4,300 acres of land belonging to 844 farmers in Delhi last year. In 2020, 310 farmers had used it on 1,935 acres of land. According to officials, spraying of bio-decomposer costs just Rs 30 per acre.
In 2021, a third-party audit conducted to ascertain the impact of the microbial solution in Delhi showed that it was 95 per cent effective, following which Kejriwal had requested the Centre to distribute it free in neighbouring states.
On Wednesday, Kejriwal had also accused the BJP of abusing the AAP and farmers for crop stubble burning, saying the governments of Delhi and Punjab were doing everything possible to control the pollution. According to Punjab government officials, the Centre rejected a proposal to provide financial incentive to farmers to stop them from burning crop stubble.
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