Punjab offers machines to check stubble burning

Chandigarh: The Punjab government plans to provide more than 22,000 crop residue management machines on subsidy under a Rs 350-crore action plan for the 2023 Kharif season to check stubble burning incidents in the state, said a senior official. Under the paddy straw management plan, the state agriculture department is also targeting zero-stubble burning incidents in seven districts – Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Malerkotla and 50 per cent reduction in stubble fire cases in Patiala, Sangrur, Faridkot and Muktsar districts, said the official. In the 2022 Kharif season, Punjab had seen a 30 per cent drop in stubble-burning incidents to 49,907 from 71,304 in 2021.