Air pollution caused due to burning of crop residues in Haryana and Punjab is expected to drop this year as the authorities are planning to provide more machines for fields at discounted price to farmers. The paddy harvest that begins by the end of this month (September) has been the main source of pollution in northern India, which has also triggered medical emergencies.
This year, the concerns are higher as several studies have suggested that air pollution could be associated with the spread of novel Coronavirus, and may worsen the symptoms of the disease.
It is important to mention that farm fires in Northern state of Haryana dropped 60 percent last year, and this year the target is to eradicate the practice completely, said Vijay Singh Dahiya, Director General (DG) of Agriculture Department, Haryana.
He told that this year, there is micro-level planning and we are also using satellite data to locate zones where there were increased incidences of crop burning last year.
Dahiya added that more emphasis is to add in more Custom Hiring Centres (CHC), offer subsidy for machines to the farmers and also create several awareness programmes.
In Haryana, as many as 841 custom hiring centres would be added and subsidy will be provided to 2,741 individual farmers in the state.
