Chandigarh, September 30: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday batted for a sustained campaign to make the farmers aware about the paddy straw management to further reduce the incidents of paddy straw burning in the state.

CM Chairs Meeting on Crop Residue Management Preparations

While chairing a meeting on preparations for crop residue management, the Chief Minister emphasized the need to raise farmers’ awareness about the hazards of paddy straw burning through a communication campaign. He added that they should also be informed about the subsidies available for straw management equipment. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of educating farmers about cost reductions in straw management through Custom Hiring Centres.

Bhagwant Singh Mann also advocated establishment of Custom Hiring centre (CHC) at Panchayats and other common places.

Paddy straw : Directed the Deputy Commissioners to launch a vigorous campaign

The Chief Minister also directed the Deputy Commissioners to launch a vigorous campaign to make the farmers aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning. He said that it will help in transforming the war against paddy straw burning into  mass movement.

Bhagwant Singh Mann said that under the crop residue management scheme 2024-25, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Punjab had already called for applications from interested farmers in availing subsidy under the scheme through agrimachinerypb.com portal.

Paddy straw : received a total of 63,904 applications for machinery

The Chief Minister announced that authorities had received a total of 63,904 applications for machinery by June 20, 2024. He added that, responding to district demands, they reopened the portal from September 13 to September 19, 2024, leading to a cumulative total of 1.07 lakh applications by September 19.

Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state government has set of target of distributing 14000 machines to individual farmers and establishment of 1100 Custom Hiring Centers in the districts.

State government launched Unnat Kisan” mobile application

The Chief Minister also said that the state government has also launched Unnat Kisan” mobile application which is a one-stop platform for farmers to easily avail Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines ahead of paddy harvesting season-2024.

He stated that the App improves access to CRM machines for small and marginal farmers, adding that the App has mapped over 1.30 lakh CRM machines for the farmers.

Mobile App Eases Machine Booking for Farmers

Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the mobile application enables farmers to easily book a machine from the available Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) in their vicinity adding that for more facilitation, Village Level Nodal officer/Cluster Head will pre-assign the machines for the farmers by taking their choice so that Farmer can easily book machine.

Significant Drop in Fire Incidents Due to Machinery Use and Awareness Campaign

The Chief Minister said that it is heartening to note that with the usage of the machines and the massive awareness campaign there has been a significant decrease in fire incidents.

He said that there has been a reduction of 30 % in the no of fire incidents (71,159)  in 2022-23 as compared to 76,929 in 2021-22 and a reduction of 26 % in the no of fire incidents (49,922) in 2023-24 as compared to 71,159 in 2022-23.

Likewise, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that fire incidents have reduced by 52% in 2023-24 compared to 2020-21.