Lok Sabha Question No. 69 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-25
Subject: Air Pollution caused by Stubble Burning
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Gaddigoudar Parvatagouda Chandanagouda, Dr. Kirsan Namdeo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK  SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 69

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.11.2024

## Air Pollution caused by Stubble Burning

## 69. SHRI GADDIGOUDAR PARVATAGOUDA CHANDANAGOUDA: DR. KIRSAN NAMDEO

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the practice of burning paddy stubble/crop residue in various States continue unabated leading to high air pollution level in cities and metros resulting in increasing level of pollution in the Delhi and NCR;
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  directed  all  States  to  formulate  a  comprehensive policy  for  providing  incentives,  new  technologies  and  infrastructural  assistance  to farmers to stop them and if so, the details and the response of the State Governments thereto;
- (c) whether the Government has convened meeting of various States to work out a clear mechanism on transportation, use of stubble as fuel in power plants and pollution check, if so, the details and outcomes thereof;
- (d) the details of the schemes/facilities provided by the Government  to  the  State Governments for management of stubble;
- (e) whether the Government is assisting the State Governments to set up paddy straw pellet units in various areas including in thermal plants, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the  details  of  corrective  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  to  prevent/ban  burning  of paddy stubble/crop residue and control air pollution?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

## (a) :

Air  pollution  in  Delhi  and  NCR  is  a  collective  result  of  multiple  factors  including  high  level  of anthropogenic activities  in  the  high-density  populated  areas  in  NCR,  arising  from  various  sectors viz.  Vehicular  Pollution,  Industrial  Pollution,  Dust  from  Construction  and  Demolition  activities, Road and Open Areas Dust, Biomass Burning, Municipal Solid Waste burning, Fires in Landfills and  air  pollution  from  dispersed  sources,  etc.  During  post-monsoon  and  winter  months,  lower temperature, lower mixing heights, inversion conditions and stagnant winds lead to trapping of the pollutants resulting in high pollution in the region. This is further aggravated due to the emissions from episodic events like stubble burning, firecrackers, etc.

Incidences of paddy stubble burning in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, NCR districts of UP and other areas in NCR are a matter of concern and  impact the air quality in the NCR, particularly in the period between October and November.

Indian  Space Research  Organization  (ISRO) developed  a  standard  protocols,  in  consultation  with major stake holders including Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), for recording and monitoring  of  crop  residue  burning  events  and  paddy  burnt  area  estimation,  to  avoid  a  diverse assessment of fire events/counts. As recorded through the standard ISRO protocol, the number of such incidents of paddy stubble burning, have witnessed a significant decline on year-to-year basis as evident from the following:

Paddy Residue Burning events (Period: 15th September- 18th November)

|   Punjab |   Punjab |   Punjab |   Haryana |   Haryana |   Haryana |   Uttar Pradesh (NCR) |   Uttar Pradesh (NCR) |   Uttar Pradesh (NCR) |
|----------|----------|----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|     2022 |     2023 |     2024 |      2022 |      2023 |      2024 |                  2022 |                  2023 |                  2024 |
|    48489 |    33719 |     9655 |      3380 |      2052 |      1118 |                    72 |                   108 |                   192 |

## (b) to (f):

The  Commission  for  Air  Quality  Management  in  National  Capital  Region  and  Adjoining  Areas (CAQM) from time to time has appropriately communicated and issued directives & advisories to various stakeholders including the 11 Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) located within 300 km of Delhi, State Governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on ' Ex-Situ Stubble Management' and to establish an ecosystem and robust supply chain mechanism to boost ex-situ utilisation of straw for tackling the problem of stubble burning. CAQM has also directed coal based TPPs including cogenerating Captive TPPs situated in NCR to (i) initiate immediate steps to co-fire biomass-based pellets  (with  focus  on  paddy  straw  utilization)  with  coal  through  a  continuous  and  uninterrupted supply chain targeting at least 5% co-firing of biomass pellets. (ii) TPPs to strictly comply with the standards  of  emissions,  at  all  times  and  with  immediate  effect,  as  stipulated  vide  MoEFCC's Notification S.O. 3305(E), dated 07.12.2015 and its amendments from, time to time.

Further,  as  per  revised  model contract for use of biomass in TPPs, issued by Ministry of Power, these power plants shall use minimum 50% of raw material as stubble/ straw/crop residue of rice paddy sourced from Punjab, Haryana or NCR. Further, emission standards for power plants have been notified and these are to be enforced by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs). As per last co-firing status obtained from MoP till October, 2024, out of targeted 22.64 LMT for FY 2024-25, 11 TPPS within 300 Km of Delhi co-fired 6.04 LMT till October, 2024 (~28%), compared to 2.58 LMT (~14 %) against targeted 18.03 LMT in FY 2023-24.

Ministry  of  Petroleum  and  Natural  Gas  (MoPNG)  has  launched  a  scheme  to  provide  financial assistance to Compressed Bio-gas producers for procurement of biomass aggregation equipment for ex-situ management of paddy straw.

Further,  Ministry  of  Agriculture  &  Farmers  Welfare  (MoA&FW)  in  2018  launched  scheme  for providing subsidy for purchase of crop residue management machinery and establishment of custom hiring centres (CHCs) in NCT of Delhi and the States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for insitu management of paddy straw. During the period from 2018 to 2024-25 (till 15.11.2024), a total of  Rs.  3623.45  crores  have  been  released  (Punjab  -  Rs.  1681.45  crores,  Haryana  -  Rs.  1081.71 crores,  Uttar  Pradesh  -  Rs.  763.67  crores,  NCT  of  Delhi  -  Rs.  6.05  Crores  and  ICAR-Rs.  83.35 crores). The states have distributed more than 3.00 lakh machines to the individual farmers and to more than 40000 CHCs in these 4 States, which also include more than 4500 Balers & Rakes which are  used  for  collection  of  straw  in  the  form  of  bales  for  further  ex-situ  utilization.  MoA&FW  in 2023  revised  guidelines  under  the  scheme  to  support  establishment  of  crop  residue/paddy  straw supply chain, by providing financial assistance on the capital cost of machinery and equipment.

Based on the deliberations and discussions held in series of meetings with the State Governments of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Government of NCT of Delhi, State Pollution Control Boards of NCR States and Delhi  Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and various other stakeholders viz. ISRO, ICAR, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), CAQM has provided a Framework to the states concerned for control / elimination of crop residue burning and directed these to draw up detailed state-specific action plans based on the major contours of the framework.

Based on the framework advised by CAQM through Direction dated 10.06.2021 to the concerned State Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Government of NCT of Delhi to prepare state specific detailed, monitorable action plans based on learnings from the years 2021, 2022  and  2023.  Action  plans  were  reviewed,  updated  and  finalised  by  the  all  concerned  State Governments for the year 2024. Accordingly, a statutory direction for strict implementation of the framework and revised action plan for prevention and control of paddy stubble burning during the year 2024, to eliminate the practice through strict enforcement was issued to the respective States on 12.04.2024. The Action Plans, inter-alia, comprises of following components: -

- i. In-situ Crop Residue Management:
- a) Availability and allocation of CRM machinery
- b) High yield and short duration paddy varieties, as substitute of PUSA- 44.
- c) Harvesting schedule staggered to improve machine utilization
- d) Super SMS mandated with Combine harvester
- e) Extensive use of Bio-decomposer developed by IARI
- ii. Ex-situ Crop Residue Management

CAQM,  vide  Direction  dated  12.04.2024,  has  also  asked  the  States  concerned  for  effective implementation of revised action plan for control / elimination of crop residue burning. Further, to ensure effective enforcement mechanism for implementation of the plans of action for prevention and control of Paddy Stubble Burning, CAQM, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 14(2),  vide  Direction  dated  10.10.2024  has  authorised  the  Deputy  Commissioners  /  District Collectors /  District  Magistrates  in  the  States  of  Punjab,  Haryana,  NCR  areas  of Rajasthan  and Uttar  Pradesh  and  in  the  NCT  of  Delhi  to  file  a  complaint/  prosecution  before  jurisdictional judicial  magistrate,  in  case  of  inaction  in  respect  of  officials,  including  nodal  officers  and supervisory  officers  at  various  levels  and  Station  House  Officers,  responsible  for  effective enforcement towards ensuring elimination of paddy stubble burning in their respective jurisdiction.

Various other corrective measures have been taken by the Government to tackle air pollution from stubble burning, which include:

- i. Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  has  framed  Guidelines  for  grant  of  one-time financial  support  under  Environment  Protection  Charge  funds  for  establishment  of pelletization  and  Torrefaction  plants  to  promote  utilisation  of  paddy  straw.  In  case  of setting  up  of  palletisation  plant,  Rs.  28  lakhs  per  tonne  per  hour  (TPH),  or  40%  of  the capital cost considered for plant and machinery of a 01 TPH plant, whichever is lower, is provided as one-time financial assistance with a maximum total financial support of Rs. 1.4 crore per proposal. In case of setting up of torrefaction plants, Rs. 56 lakhs per TPH, or 40% of the capital cost considered for plant and machinery of a 01 TPH plant, whichever is lower, is provided as one-time financial assistance with a maximum total financial support of Rs. 2.8 crore per proposal.
- ii. A total of 17 applications for establishment of pelletization and Torrefaction plants under the above mentioned CPCB Guidelines have been sanctioned so far, out of which 02 plants are  not  coming  up.  Pellet  production  capacity  of  15  sanctioned  plants  is  2.07  lakh tonne/annum.  These  plants  are  expected  to  utilize  2.70  lakh  tonne  of  paddy  straw  per annum.
- iii. CPCB has deployed 26 teams (in 16 districts of Punjab and 10 districts of Haryana) for the period 01 st October - 30 th November, 2024 to intensify monitoring and enforcement actions regarding  stubble  burning.  These  teams  are  coordinating  with  concerned  authorities/ officers deployed at the district level by the State Govt. and reporting to CAQM.
- iv. MoA&FW had deputed 31 Central Teams, which have conducted Quality  Survey work w.e.f. 1-15 th September, 2024 in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Utatr Pradesh and the Teams  had  visited  275  manufacturers  and  conducted  quality  audit  of  910  agricultural machines. Further, 10 Central Teams have conducted survey on utilization of machines in States of Punjab and Haryana during 15 th October-31 st  October 2024. A Team comprising members from DA&FW, CAQM and ICAR and other stakeholders had visited to the State of Punjab to witness the activities of paddy straw management on 14 th  November, 2024.

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