Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding air pollution caused by crop burning, 05/07/2019
Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Ganga Lalwani Vs Union of India & Others WITH News item published in "Indian Express" Authored by Mallica Joshi Titled "All fiddle as crop stubble burns, farmers say solutions out of reach" dated 05/07/2019 regarding air pollution caused by crop burning. It is reported that 25%-30% contribution to the air pollution in the NCR is caused by burning of crops in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
In the course of hearing a suggestion was put forward by Dr. S. Mukherjee, Registrar, Jobner Agriculture University, Jaipur that the crop residue has huge potential for the organic manure and decentralized composting units could be set up either in the concerned fields or common composting units at community level in a village or in a cluster of villages. At least one such pilot project needs to be considered in each State. NGT wanted this aspect to be explored further in the meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture with the concerned States within one month. The Tribunal was also informed that in the State of Rajasthan, this has been successfully tried by Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Durgapura, Jaipur.
NGT directs the Ministry of Agriculture to file an affidavit on the matter of crop residue burning after coordination with the concerned states within one month. The concerned States may also file their respective progress reports which may include the strategies and proposed action plan proposed to be employed to tackle the problem in the current year before August 9, 2019.