Supreme Court strict on the issue of pollution
An important hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday regarding pollution in Delhi-NCR. During this, the top court said that the incidents of burning of stubble in the fields have not reduced. 984 FIRs have been registered and according to the Advocate General, they are against the land owners and entries have been made in the revenue records. After a field visit, out of the total incidents of parli burning in Punjab, it was found that fine was imposed only in 20 percent of the cases. Environmental compensation of more than Rs 2 crore has been imposed, out of which Rs 18 lakh has been recovered. The remaining amount should also be recovered, as far as measures to control stubble burning are concerned, the status report filed by the Center makes clear.
The Supreme Court will hear the case next on December 5. The Supreme Court said that it has identified the issue arising from the 2019 order directing the setting up of custom hiring centres. He says that no data of Punjab has been kept in this record. The status report showed that the number of machines is 128378 and the number of CHCs is 25417. Suggestions have been given to adopt new measures to reduce stubble burning, these will be examined by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
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Why are machines not given to farmers for free?
Justice Dhulia said that the farmer is being made a villain and he is not being heard. He must have some reason for burning the stubble. Justice Dhulia said that why don’t you give machines to the farmers for free when diesel and manpower are also required to run the machines. There is some subsidy for farmers and cooperative societies to buy machinery. Although hiring these machines from custom hiring centers is free, we have asked the AG (Advocate General) to explain why the state cannot provide these aspects (diesel, manpower, etc.) free of cost and utilize the byproduct. ?
Punjab should learn from Haryana
Justice Kaul said that the state of Punjab should learn from the state of Haryana in the way of providing financial incentives to the farmers. He said that the land in Punjab is gradually becoming dry because the water level is decreasing. If the land becomes dry then Everything else will be affected. Somewhere the farmers should understand or explain the ill effects of growing paddy. Advocate Vikas Singh said that the farmers have said that they do not want to grow paddy, but want to grow it only because of the issue of MSP.
Justice Kaul said that lawyer sir, please find out how you can discourage paddy and encourage alternative crops. The court said that Jha Committee should look into the aspect of discouraging rice cultivation. Justice Kaul said that the state government and the central government should forget politics in this and figure out how to do it. If the blame game continues, the land will dry up and the water will disappear. No one wants to offend certain groups. Justice Kaul said that the aim should be to implement the order in every situation because its ill effects are very dangerous, so the order should be implemented in every situation.
Report sought from Delhi-UP government
The Supreme Court ordered the Delhi-UP government to take immediate action and submit the report. The Supreme Court said that the problem of open burning of garbage has existed in UP-Delhi earlier also. It is their responsibility to stop such activity. Justice Kaul said that November has been the most polluted in the last 6 years. Know the problem and also know the theory. People don’t care how you do it.
The court’s business is not how you do it. Its job is to get you to do your work. If you don’t implement what’s expected of you, our job is to make you work. Senior advocate Vipin Sanghi wants to raise the issue of non-implementation of colour-coded stickers. He says that for new cars, this scheme is being implemented, but not for old cars. We ask the committee to look into this aspect and find out. What instructions should be issued to the states for better grievance redressal?
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What did the Punjab government say?
The Punjab government said that more than 100 FIRs have been registered and a fine of Rs 2 crore has been collected. But now protests have started and law and order issue is being created. The Supreme Court said that this has to be handled by you. We have handed over the responsibility to the inspector. The Supreme Court said that children and sick people are being affected and stubble burning is continuing unabated. Punjab government said that stubble has not been burnt completely in 6 districts of Punjab.
