[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Agriculture to file an affidavit on its strategy to combat the issue of crop residual burning within a month after coordinating with the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
Noting newspaper reports that said 15,000 deaths had taken place in the National Capital Region (NCR) on account of air pollution, the NGT panel headed by Chairperson Justice A K Goel, Judicial Members Justices S P Wangdi and K Ramakrishnan and Expert Member Dr Nagin Ananda in its order also directed the concerned states to file progress reports, including strategies and proposed action plans to tackle the problem in the current year, by August 9, 2019.
The petition was filed by a Ganga Lalwani for remedial action against air pollution caused by burning of crop residual, given that crop residual burning, according to the petitioner, had contributed 25% – 30% to the air pollution in the NCR.
In 2013, the NGT had in Vikrant Kumar Tongad vs Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control Authority) & Ors, ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to take necessary steps and to provide farmers tools and techniques for managing crop residue.
The NGT also noted suggestions made by Dr S Mukherjee, Registrar, Jobner Agriculture University, Jaipur that crop residue had huge potential for the manufacture of organic manure and that decentralized composting units could be set up either in the concerned fields or common composting units at the community level in a village or in a cluster of villages. “At least one such pilot project needs to be considered in each State. This aspect may be further explored in the meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture with the concerned States within one month,” the tribunal said.
