<p>Additional reply by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority in Original Application No 739 of 2023 in the matter of Environment Protection Society SAS Nagar & Others Vs Ministry of Environment,
Rice is the most important Kharif crop of Punjab. With the increase in production of rice there is concomitant increase in the production of residue (rice straw), which is approximately 18.75 MT. About 80 percent of the rice residue it burnt in the fields, particularly after harvesting rice by combine harvesters.
Rice-wheat is a major crop rotation in the Indo-Gangetic region. Tillage is one of the major crop production operations and is an important contributor to the total cost of production. It is a common observation that direct tilling of any crop into combine-harvested rice stubbles from a reasonable rice yield is not possible without any prior burning or removal of straw.
Harvesting a crop generates a huge amount of crop residue. Uttar Pradesh tops the list of the Crop Residue Producing States followed by Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and so on. A large part of this crop residue is burnt in the open fields since the farmers do not have any worthwhile use of this waste. Burning of residues give rise to emissions of aerosols, major gases and trace gases.
Punjab has chosen as a nodal state by the Union Agriculture Ministry to implement the National Bamboo Mission Programme for promoting cultivation, value addition, processing and marketing of bamboo crop. Tikshan Sud, forests and wildlife preservation minister said to promote diversification of land use, Punjab had submitted a proposal to the union government for promoting cultivation, value addition, processing and marketing of bamboo.
Beijing: Two Chinese companies
A meeting of the executive committee, State Health Society, under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was held here today under the chairmanship of Vijay Kain, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Punjab, to discuss the State Programme Implementation Plan for 2008-09. A Rs 353-crore plan was proposed by the committee. Kain said the plan would be submitted to the Government of India for approval by director, NRHM Punjab, T.R. Sarangal on February 28.
The country may harvest over 76 million tonne of wheat this season, if the current weather conditions remain favourable for the next three weeks, a top official said. "If weather conditions remain favourable, wheat production may touch the record level,' Union agriculture secretary PK Mishra told reporters. India recorded the highest production of 76.37 million tonne of wheat in 1999-2000. Mishra, said the weather conditions till the third week of March is very crucial for wheat, which requires a mean temperature of 20 degree Celsius. Except in Haryana, the mean temperature in most of the wheat growing states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan is normal for the crop, agriculture commissioner NB Sing said. The temperature at some places in Haryana had gone up to 29 degree Celsius for two days last week, which may impact the wheat crop, Singh added. Overall, the prospect of wheat output is very good, the agriculture secretary said. "We have been monitoring the temperature in the wheat growing areas. It is within the normal, prescribed for wheat crop, although the temperature has increased from what it was two weeks earlier.' "It will be not less than 3% when the final figures come,' Mishra said.
Punjab takes up the challenge THE repair of a canal normally would not have attracted much notice but for the fact that it is for the first time since Independence that a government in Punjab has undertaken to revamp the dilapidated canal system. The embankments along a 25-km stretch of the Patiala feeder, which irrigates large parts of Patiala, Sangrur and Mansa districts, have been strengthened and 4-5 feet of silt has been removed from its bed within just three weeks at a reduced cost of Rs 25 crore. It shows that collective effort and can-do attitude with right motivation from the top can work wonders. The canal network in Punjab has been in bad shape for long. Because of high levels of silt accumulating over the years and broken embankments, the water supply in the canals has sharply reduced. As a result, the area under canal irrigation has come down from 42 per cent in 1990-91 to 28 per cent now. The farmers at the tail-end of the canals are the worst sufferers. They have to depend more on tubewells, particularly in view of the increased cultivation of paddy. Besides, seepage from the ill-maintained canals has aggravated the problem of water-logging in the Malwa region. Political posturing and social conflicts over water issues notwithstanding, not much has been done either in Punjab or Haryana to preserve the existing water resources. Lack of funds due to Punjab's precarious financial condition and the non-levy of user-charges due to policies of appeasement have hit canal maintenance work. Realising the gravity of the situation, the Punjab government has formulated a Rs 3,243-crore plan to repair canals, check water-logging, control floods and recharge ground water. This is commendable, but is not enough. A mass movement is required to conserve and revive water resources, harvest rainwater and encourage the use of sprinklers and drip irrigation to overcome water shortages in the long run.
The Punjab government has rejected the Rajasthan government's demand to supply 20,000 cusecs of canal water over and above the existing use of the water for irrigation purpose through the Rajasthan feeder being made by it. Sources said Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had written to Parkash Singh Badal for additional supply of canal water during February and March for the rabi crop. Even the Rajasthan Irrigation Department had contacted the Punjab government in this regard. However, the sources said the Punjab government had decided to write back to the Rajasthan government that it could not spare additional water. Punjab, in fact, itself was facing problem to meet its irrigation requirements through canal water in absence of adequate rainfall in the region during this winter. Except light rainfall near the Shivalik foothills, there was no rainfall in the countryside. More over, the level of water is also low in the various dams. During the summer availability of water from the dams for irrigation would be less this year. Keeping in view these circumstances, the state government had decided to refuse the additional water. Rajasthan had been alleging for the past several years that Punjab had been using its unutilised share and it should be compensated for that. However, Punjab had been saying that the flow of water in the rivers had come down by 3 MAF over the years. Even the BBMB and the Central Water Commission (CWC) was aware of this fact. Meanwhile, the Punjab government had also decided to oppose the second barrage on the Ravi-Beas waters. Sources said the state government would seek the CWC report prepared with regard to the leakage of water to Pakistan from the river water systems. There were reports that the CWC had found that there was no such huge leakage of water from the river systems to Pakistan. Hence there was no need to construct the second barrage. Moreover, Punjab had not been taken into confidence before taking a decision regarding the barrage by the Union government. As Punjab was a host riparian state, the Union government could not execute any barrage like project without its consent. The sources said the Haryana government had given a concept paper to the CWC for constructing the barrage.
More than a couple of lakh trees could be axed in the ecologically fragile Kandi area of the state with the Union Government giving Punjab the freedom to cut down five species of trees from cultivated fields in this area without taking any permission. Earlier, farmers from 400-odd villages in this area had to take permits to cut trees once in 10 years. Now, the Government has been given the licence to issue these permits every five years. According to the new felling policy of the state Government approved by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the felling and sale of poplar, eucalyptus, bamboo, babul and mulberry trees from cultivated fields will no longer require any permission. All that the owner will have to do is to intimate the forest range officer and DFO concerned at least 15 days prior to the felling and obtain a receipt of this communication. The felling cycle, too, has been reduced from 10 years to five. Experts maintain that this will result in the felling of over one lakh trees in the light of the fact that there was virtually no tree cutting in many villages for over 19 years now. SK Sherawat, Conservator (Central), Northern Regional Office, Ministry of Environment and Forests, said they had reduced the cycle to address the growing resentment amongst people who could not sell their own produce (trees) on their land. All praise for this relief, Chief Conservator of Forests (Hills), Punjab, Jatindra Sharma said: "By reducing the felling cycle, we also hope to encourage villagers to grow more trees.' Flaying apprehensions about indiscriminate axing of trees, Sharma said the stringent marking rules would ensure that only 5 to 7 per cent of the trees were marked for felling. R C Nayar, Secretary of Forests, Punjab, also shrugged off the 1-lakh tree count and said it was cubic feet wood that counted and not trees as some were dead and had no wood. The new forest management policy has also made some changes in the lantana harvest rules wherein this deadly weed can be cut and stubbed in a careful manner besides being harvested for use instead of being burnt as earlier.
