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Fearing a reprimand, top functionaries of the state Agriculture Department did not attend the hearing.
The only proposal listed by the department today was selecting Kallar Majri village near Patiala for a pilot project under which the farmers would be paid an incentive of Rs 1,000 per acre for not burning stubble.
BKU chief Balbir Singh Rajewal questioned the government proposals, arguing that these were ornamental. “How will the state replicate this project in over 12,500 villages given the fiscal stress?” he asked.
He pointed out that the farmers needed to clear the paddy straw in their fields for sowing wheat. “What about the farmers who have to grow vegetables? The window given to them for clearing the fields has been too small,” he contended. Pointing out that debt-ridden farmers of Punjab were resorting to suicide, he argued how then could small and marginal farmers be expected to spend lakhs on buying costly Conservation Agriculture (CA) implements.
The tribunal directed the Punjab Government to present its case afresh, with cutoff dates for the implementation of measures to stop stubble-burning and the finances arranged for the same on the next date of hearing on October 11. “If need be, the help of the BKU chief may be sought,” the court observed.
Advocate IG Kapila, appearing for the farmers, told the tribunal the Punjab Government had adopted a “selective approach” and that farmers were being harassed with hefty fines under the pretext of the NGT order. The NGT had earlier taken Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan to task for not submitting action plans to prevent the pollution emanating from stubble-burning.
Fixing the penalty per incident of crop burning (small landowner Rs 2,500, medium Rs 5,000 and big Rs 15,000), it had directed these states to take coercive and punitive action against persistent defaulters and to withdraw assistance to such farmers.
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