On Friday, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has asked the officials to make it certain that they do not harass the farmers when they take action against stubble burning.
The Uttar Pradesh administration has taken strict actions against farmers who have resorted to stubble burning. The Police have filed FIR’s against hundreds of farmers in lots of districts and arrested many of them too. Reports claim clashes between the police administration officials and farmers in several areas. The farmers have also alerted that they would launch a protest against the police action.
This also drew criticism from Opposition leaders Akhilesh Yadav, President of Samajwadi Party, and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi. They have posed criticisms towards Yogi Adityanath’s governance and questioned the action taken against the farmers. These criticisms have put CM Adityanath on the back foot.
He said that farmers have to be made aware of the damage burning stubble can cause. He also added that the misbehavior with farmers won’t be tolerated under any circumstances. The government has also issued a guideline concerning parali (crop residue). The Chief Minister also added that the farmers should be made aware of the damage caused by burning straw and not the benefits of burning them.
Projects to use stubble to prepare biofuel/power should be reviewed: CM Adityanath
The Chief Minister also asserted that new experiments to use crop residue should be implemented and encouraged and projects to prepare biofuel/power from stubble should be reviewed. He also added that awareness must be spread among farmers that burning stubble is harmful to the environment and degrades the fertility of the soil.
CM Adityanath said, “The Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal have declared stubble burning a punishable offense. Instead of doing this, farmers should take advantage of those schemes by which the straw can be disposed of and made useful. The government is also giving grants on such agricultural machines. In many places, farmers have made stubble a means of earning through these agricultural machines. The rest of the farmers can also learn from them.”
Samajwadi Party President, Akhilesh Yadav, took to Twitter to express his opinion against the action taken against the farmers. He tweeted that while the people who put farmers in jails with the excuse of stubble burning, could they also tell us when political polluters would be thrown in the jail. He added that this time the farmers would dig up BJP’s field.
पर्यावरण प्रदूषण के बहाने पराली जलाने के नाम पर किसानों को जेलों में डालनेवाले महानुभाव बताएं कि राजनीतिक प्रदूषण फैलानेवालों को जेल कब होगी.
किसान अब भाजपा का खेत खोद देंगे. #नहीं_चाहिए_भाजपा
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) November 5, 2020
Priyanka Gandhi also expressed her opinions. She said, “Are only farmers responsible for pollution? When will the real responsibilities of pollution be taken? Farmer’s vote – legal, farmer’s paddy – legal, farmer’s straw – illegal?”
