Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 8
The good news is that the attempts to reduce paddy straw generation are yielding positive results.
The Centre on Friday said the paddy straw generated in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is expected to come down significantly this year as the crop diversification measures and moving away from PUSA-44 variety to short-duration high-yielding varieties by states as part of the framework and action plan for control of stubble-burning are showing heartening results.
Burning of paddy straw from the non-basmati variety of crops is the prime concern.
The Environment Ministry said the steps taken towards reduction in paddy straw generation are yielding positive results and total paddy straw generation from the non-basmati variety is likely to be reduced by 12.42 per cent during the current year as compared to the previous year.
“The total paddy area in Haryana, Punjab and eight NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh has come down by 7.72 per cent during the current year as compared to last year.
Similarly, total paddy straw generation from the non-basmati variety is likely to be reduced by 12.42 per cent during the current year as compared to the previous year,” it said.
The Ministry said both central and state governments of Haryana, Punjab and UP have been taking measures to diversify crops as well as to reduce the use of PUSA-44 variety of paddy.
As per data received from the governments of Haryana, Punjab and UP, the total amount of paddy straw generated will come down this year.
“The total paddy straw generation is likely to come down by 1.31 million tonnes (from 20.05 million tonnes in 2020 to 18.74 million tonnes in 2021) in Punjab; by 0.8 million tonnes (from 7.6 million tonnes in 2020 to 6.8 million tonnes in 2021) in Haryana; and by 0.09 million tonnes (from 0.75 million tonnes in 2020 to 0.67 million tonnes in 2021) in the eight NCR districts of UP this year.
“The total quantity of straw generated by the respective states was 28.4 million tonnes in 2020 which is now expected to come down to 26.21 million tonnes in 2021,” it said.
The decrease in non-basmati variety is expected to be even higher.
Paddy straw generation specifically from the non-basmati variety of crops is expected to decrease from 17.82 million tonnes in 2020 to 16.07 million tonnes in 2021 in Punjab and from 3.5 million tonnes in 2020 to 2.9 million tonnes in 2021 in Haryana.
Officials said CAQM had directed the respective state governments to promote short duration and early maturing varieties of crops since they can be managed quite efficiently and provide a much wider window for paddy straw management as per recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Apart from this, the Crop Diversification Programmes are also being implemented in Punjab and Haryana along with the NCR districts of UP to divert the area of water-guzzling paddy to alternative crops, they added.
Paddy straw generated in Punjab, Haryana and UP expected to come down significantly this year
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