An emergency meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has found that 38 per cent of air pollution in the national capital and neighbouring areas was contributed by stubble burning on 8 November.

The meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary was held as per the direction of the Supreme Court. Chief secretaries and other senior officers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the NCT of Delhi attended the meeting.

The chairman, Commission on Air Quality Management (CAQM) and secretaries of Ministries of Environment & Forests, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Affairs and Power were also present.

Based on the data provided by the CAQM and inputs provided by state governments, it emerged that the current crisis situation is majorly on account of stubble burning, sources said.

For the period from 15th September to 7th November, a total of 22,644 stubble burning events were recorded, out of which 20978 (93 per cent) were in Punjab and 1605 (seven per cent) in Haryana.

It also emerged during discussions that harvesting is more than 90 per cent complete in Haryana whereas it is 60 per cent complete in Punjab.

Immediate steps are, therefore, needed to check further stubble burning during the remaining harvesting season, particularly in Punjab, the meeting concluded.

After detailed discussions, the Cabinet Secretary directed the State administration of Punjab to take effective actions to stop further stubble burning in the remaining days of this harvest season.

Responsibility should be fixed on DCs/DMs, SSPs and SHOs for ensuring that there is no further stubble burning.

The CAQM should send out Flying Squads to Punjab & Haryana and submit daily reports on the incidents of farm fires and status of enforcement of directions of the Supreme Court by the DCs/SSPs. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) should make necessary manpower available to CAQM.

Follow up actions are to be taken by all State Governments in respect of cases instituted during the last two years for violation of ban on stubble burning. Details of action taken are to be shared with CAQM.

It was also noted that Rs 3,333 Crore has been released by the Ministry of Agriculture under Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme so far. Of this, Rs 1531 crore was released to Punjab and Rs 1006 crore to Haryana.

Nearly 1.20 lakh Seeder machines are available under the CRM Scheme in Punjab and 76,000 in Haryana. Optimum utilization of these machines could have prevented stubble burning to such a large extent.

The state governments of Punjab and Haryana were directed to make full use of available Seeder machines to prevent further stubble burning.

It was noted that Government of Haryana has been implementing their own incentive scheme for ex-situ management, that is, for procurement of straw from farmers and its transportation, etc.

The government of Haryana informed the meeting about an incentive scheme being implemented by them for crop diversification for encouraging farmers to shift from paddy to other crops.

The government of Punjab should also launch similar schemes and announce them immediately so that stubble burning can be prevented in the remaining part of this year and next year.

The government of Haryana should also make efforts to expand and enlarge the scope of their Scheme for ex-situ management to ensure that there is no stubble burning next year.

It was noted that Ministry of Agriculture has launched a Scheme for ex-situ crop residue management. All States were asked to ensure effective implementation of this Scheme in their respective States and achieve full utilization of funds.