Punjab's Rs 500 Crore Plan to Curb Stubble Burning

Chandigarh, Jun 26 (PTI) The Punjab government has prepared an action plan with an outlay of Rs 500 crore for providing machinery to farmers and taking other measures to check stubble burning in the state, said agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.

Khuddian said that his department has received as many as 21,511 applications from farmers, cooperative societies, and panchayats for availing subsidies on various crop residue management (CRM) machinery during the Kharif season 2024.

Farmers have applied for 63,697 machines, he said in an official statement.

Individual farmers can avail 50 per cent subsidy on buying CRM equipment, while 80 per cent subsidy can be availed by cooperative societies and panchayats, the minister said.

Under the scheme, Khuddian said that super SMS, super seeder, surface seeder, smart seeder, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper, shredder, mulcher, hydraulic reversible mould board plough and zero till drill for in-situ management and baler and rake in ex-situ machines are being made available on subsidy.

As many as 1,30,000 CRM machines have been provided to farmers of the state from 2018-19 to 2023, said Khuddian, adding that the agriculture department would also launch a campaign to train farmers about the available technologies for the management of crop residue.