Punjab Frames Strategy to Deal With Stubble Burning

CHANDIGARH, (IANS) – Four cabinet ministers in Punjab on September 19 got together with experts to formulate a joint strategy to deal with stubble burning and safeguard the environment.

The ministers, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Aman Arora, and Harjot Bains, chalked out a plan that will begin on September 27 with an awareness campaign to make farmers aware of the ill-effects of paddy stubble burning and its management.

Under the first phase of the campaign, students at universities and colleges will be enrolled and they will be trained by experts about the harmful effects of stubble burning and absorption of stubble into the soil.

After that, special training programs will be conducted at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana on September 28 and the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar on September 29. Later, the students will visit villages across the state to make people aware of stubble burning.

Agriculture Minister Dhaliwal said that a 15-day deadline has been extended for farmers to apply for subsidy on the Happy Seeder machines so that the maximum number of farmers can plant wheat without burning the stubble.