The Haryana government on Thursday said paddy straw burning cases have reduced considerably during the current paddy harvesting season.
“Till 10 October 2018, crop had been harvested on 4.01 lakh hectares and there was arrival of 20 lakh tonnes of paddy in the various mandis of the state.
As per satellite data furnished by HARSAC, there had been burning of paddy stubble only at 459 places involving an area of 735 hectares. This was less than one per cent of the total area where harvesting had taken place,” an official spokesperson said.
He said that these positive results were the outcome of the massive information and education campaign undertaken by the various Government agencies.
The Deputy Commissioners and the Sub Divisional Magistrates were directly involved in the village to village campaign.
The state government had already spent Rs 98 crore during the current year on provision of subsidy to the farmers for purchase of agriculture implements.
As many as 857 Custom Hiring Centres had been established and 2,867 farmers had also been subsidized for purchase of agriculture implements.
The spokesman said that the farmer’s of Haryana fully understood the adverse impact of paddy straw burning on the environment and had behaved in a responsible manner.
It may be noted that paddy is sown on 13 lakh hectares in Haryana, the maximum area being in the districts of Karnal, Kaithal, Jind, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad.