Farmers in many parts of Haryana have openly admitted to widespread stubble burning during the current season, defying the strict regulations put in place by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), even as a Punjab-based innovator claimed to have developed technology that would help convert waste crop residue to eco-friendly CNG and manure.

“We have little option, as the kharif rice varieties have very strong stem and clearing them by any other means other than burning is next to impossible,” said a farmer in Barsheen village, just a few kilometres from the district administration office in Fatehabad. Already late for sowing his winter wheat crop, the farmer, who requested anonymity, was burning paddy stubbles on his fields.

A BusinessLine team travelling through the district could spot smoke rising from many fields. A district agriculture official confirmed that Fatehabad was among Haryana’s districts with highest instances of crop-residue burning, and many farmers who had violated the NGT directives had been penalised. “We have sent notices to over 1,100 farmers who had resorted to stubble burning this season, asking them to pay a penalty that totalled to ₹33.5 lakh. Till this morning, we have collected ₹6.5 lakh from farmers,” an official told BusinessLine .

When pointed out that farmers were still setting fire to rice straw in their fields, the official said these were only isolated events as sowing was already complete in 60 per cent of the fields in the district. He said they were still keeping an eye out for fresh violators.

Chandrabhan, a farmer who has a field in Jalnia village, 13 km from the town, said thousands of farmers had approached the administration asking for a viable alternative but had failed to get any response.

Kuldeep Singh, another farmer, said many were willing to pay up to ₹1,000 an acre for getting the stubble removed from the field.

Help, however, may be at hand, with a Punjab-based start-up joining hands with IIT-Delhi to come up with a viable technology for converting paddy straw into bio-CNG and manure.

Start-up offers hope

Sampurn Agri Ventures, set up by tech entrepreneur Sanjeev Nagpal, has successfully demonstrated the technology in its pilot plant set up in Fazilka in Punjab. The firm plans to set up 42 plants that can use up to 70 tonnes of rice straw as feedstock.

“We are willing to pay farmers around ₹2,000 for every tonne of paddy straw they deliver at the plant. As per our calculations, the savings from each tonne of straw would be around ₹1,000,” said Nagpal.

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