Chandigarh: The issue of crop residue burning today echoed in the Punjab Assembly today with members of treasury benches and the AAP sparring over it. While Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told the House the government was working on an action plan to curb the menace of stubble burning, the AAP accused the state administration of not providing machinery and farm implements to farmers to manage paddy residue.

On the last day of the winter session of the Punjab Assembly today, Congress MLA from Khanna Gurkirat Singh raised concern over air pollution due to smog, saying it was even leading to road accidents. He sought to know what incentives were being given for setting up stubble-based industries in the state. The chief minister said the state government had recently signed MoU with a Chennai-based company to address the problem and work on alternate ways of disposing of crop residue. 

Under the MoU, NEWAY company will set up 400 processing plants for converting paddy straw into bio energy in the state, the CM informed the House. Amarinder said the state generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw in a season, of which 19 million tonnes would be used by NEWAY in these units, thus curbing the environmental hazard triggered by stubble burning. "From the next season, they will procure stubble and then the problem will be solved," said CM. 

Leader of opposition and AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira accused the state government of not providing equipment to farmers as mandated by the National Green Tribunal to manage crop residue. "What option then farmers have except burning the crop residue... It costs Rs 5,000 per acre to manage crop residue," Khaira said. "The Centre even gave Rs 97 crore to the Punjab government for the management of crop residue which was diverted," he claimed and asked the state government to give Rs 5,000 per acre to farmers.