Cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the state govt has undertaken ex situ and in situ, works on stubble management which have resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in stubble burning cases and efforts are being made to further minimise this percentage.
He said that the protection of the environment is a collective responsibility of all, and the participation of the people is necessary and for this awareness campaigns should be launched. While advocating increase in the area under forests, he said that more and more trees should be planted on panchayat lands of villages and the individual residences. Hayer said that the Punjab Vidhan Sabha had invited and honoured the farmers who had not burnt stubble for the past several years and thus inspired other farmers.
AAP MLA Budh Ram said that growing pollution had created havoc with air and water pollution creating threats like melting of glaciers. He said that there was also a need for farmers not to indulge in indiscriminate use of chemicals to increase production of wheat crops. He said food adulteration was another problem as harmful chemicals were being added to milk products.
Health minister Balbir Singh said that the state govt had set up mobile laboratories of the food and drug administration and the general public can get food products tested for a nominal price. The levels of pesticide traces can also be detected in the samples, he said. “People can contact the civic surgeons concerned to call in the mobile laboratory and get tests conducted. An initiative called ‘Eat Right’ has been launched by the state govt,” he said.
On stubble burning, Budh Ram said, “I won’t blame the farmers, it is their compulsion. But it not only kills microorganisms but also brings down the soil quality. Over 85% are affected by the problem. The state govt has provided crop residue management (CRM) machines to the farmers in the last two years,” he said. Budh Ram also talked about the efforts made by 21-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and the need to save the environment for future generations.
When Cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer was asked to speak, he told the deputy speaker his cabinet colleague Aman Arora too wanted to speak and requested that he be given a chance after him. Later, when Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Kotli had to make his point, he said Arora could speak before him and he would wait. Arora pointed out that he had to go for a meeting. Emphasising the need for environment conservation, Arora said that the per capita number of trees in the country was only 28, which was much less as compared to Canada, Russia and the United States.
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