Haryana Deploys Parali Protection Force to Curb Stubble Burning

Haryana to deploy Parali Protection Force to prevent paddy stubble burning

Chandigarh, Sep 24

Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Thursday reviewed the state's action plan for elimination of stubble burning and compliance with Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directions.

The action plan mandates the Parali Protection Force, comprising police personnel, Agriculture Department officials, administrative officers, nodal and cluster officers and officials of other stakeholder departments.

The force will operate at district and block levels to closely monitor farm-fire incidents and take action against stubble burning.

Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture), Vijayendra Kumar, said the state has also called for intensified patrolling during late evening hours, taking into account attempts by some farmers to burn paddy residue after dark to evade satellite recording of farm fires.

The enforcement plan stipulates three actions in every verified case of paddy stubble burning -- registration of a First Information Report (FIR), challan and a "red entry" in the farmer's land record.

Appropriate environmental compensation charges are also to be imposed and recovered from violators. At the same time, the government is focussing on incentives and machinery availability to provide farmers alternatives to burning.

The state is providing an incentive of Rs 1,200 per acre, besides subsidy on the purchase of crop-residue management machines, for their optimal utilisation.

The government plans to move balers, rakers and other machines between districts according to paddy harvesting schedules.

Harvesting begins in Yamunanagar, Ambala, Karnal and Kurukshetra from September and progresses to Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar and Jind during the last week of October.

Officials have been asked to coordinate with baler owners in neighbouring states and adjoining Haryana districts to facilitate movement of machinery during the season.

Director (Agriculture) Amit Khatri said 8,134 village-level nodal officers have been appointed for field monitoring.

Haryana has around 621,285 registered paddy farmers across 5,600 villages, covering about 3.41 million acres.

So far, 604,314 farmers have been covered by nodal officers. Under the monitoring mechanism, a maximum of 100 farmers can be tagged to each nodal officer, with the limit reduced to 50 in hotspot villages.

Nodal officers are to use a mobile application to report active fire locations and record whether tagged farmers are managing crop residue through in-situ, ex-situ or fodder-based methods.

The state is also moving towards drone-based surveillance. In accordance with CAQM directions, Haryana is in the process of deploying drones in association with DRIISHYA for monitoring stubble-burning incidents.

Deputy Commissioners will finalise in advance the villages and locations where drones will fly.

— IANS