Experts differ on law to save groundwater, some blame it for pollution

A law meant to save groundwater in Punjab is contributing to a spike in stubble burning that causes severe pollution in the northern states around this time of the year, according to some experts. Others, however, dismiss this reasoning. “This is just an excuse,” agricultural economist Sardara Singh Johl told PTI.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri put the blame on the change in the paddy transplantation pattern after the enactment of the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009. The law was meant to check the rapid depletion of groundwater in the state. Under the Act, paddy transplantation was typically delayed from June 1 to June 20 and paddy nursery sowing to May 15. This year, the paddy transplantation deadline was June 13.

“Before the enactment of this law, we used to complete the sowing in the month of May and the crop was harvested by September-end and October, giving ample time to farmers to sow the next wheat crop,” Kokri said. He argued that this “delay” in paddy transplantation leads to delayed harvesting – and only little time is then left for farmers to sow the wheat crop.

So they burn the crop residue to quickly clear their fields for the sowing, he said. Anil Sood, a senior scientist at the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre made the same argument: the window between harvesting and sowing of the next crop has shrunk because of a uniform sowing period.

“Earlier, paddy was harvested in areas like Tarn Taran and Ferozepur by September-end,” he told PTI. Due of the low wind speed and the cold, toxic gases in upper atmosphere get trapped, increasing air pollution, he added.

Moreover, according to BKU leader Kokri, the stubble in November has more moisture compared to the dry residue of the crop harvested in September or early October – and the moist residue gives out thicker smoke. Agricultural economist Sardara Singh Johl questions the theory based on “delayed” harvesting. “It is just an excuse (by farmers). This is not the case,” Johl said.

Trying to allay apprehensions among farmers, Punjab Agriculture Director Swantantar Kumar Airi said sowing of wheat can go on till November 30. Airi said the depletion in the state's underground water table had dropped to 49 cm per year. Before the law, water was depleting at a rate of 76 cm per year.

Paddy is a a water- guzzling crop that consumes 4,000 litres to produce one kilo. Many experts have pitched for financial assistance to farmers so that they manage the stubble better, instead of starting fires than end up choking Delhi and the National Capital Region.

One option, according to them, is to include the expenditure incurred on disposal of paddy straw in non-polluting ways while deciding the minimum support price. “Farmers have been demanding that they should either be given Rs 200 a quintal or Rs 4,000-5,000 per acre for managing the stubble themselves, and the government should pay them,” farm expert Devinder Sharma said.

Sharma said Rs 3,000 crore is required as financial assistance for paddy growers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to manage stubble. Despite the ban, stubble burning has gone on unabated at several places in Punjab with over 30,000 farm fires detected so far this year.

Last year, there were about 50,000 stubble burning incidents in the state, officials said.