Air pollution: Green tribunal asks Centre, state governments to solve the stubble burning problem
The panel asked them to meet on November 28 to work out how paddy stubble can be transported and used as fuel in power plants.
The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday asked the Centre and the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to come up with a solution to the problem of stubble burning, PTI reported.
Burning the stubble of paddy crops was one of the primary causes of the blanket of smog that enveloped the National Capital Region and parts of North India earlier in November.
NGT asks all the concerned states to provide workable solution for stubble burning. NTPC says they are willing to use agricultural residue in power plants, however it may not be possible to use it directly as they can only use it as 5 percent of the fuel.
— ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017
The bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the governments to meet at 11 am on November 28 to work out how the stubble can be transported and used as fuel in power plants. They also have to decide how farmers can be adequately compensated.
The secretary of the Agriculture Ministry, the additional secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, a senior scientist from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the managing director of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation and the chief managing director of NTPC have been asked to attend the meeting.
The state-run NTPC, formerly known as the National Thermal Power Corporation, told the tribunal on Wednesday that it was willing to use pellets of crop residue with coal to generate power, as directed by the Centre last week. The residue, it said, cannot be used as a direct source for fuel.
The panel will hold further hearings on the matter on December 6.
