Chandigarh, Sep 30 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday pitched for a sustained campaign to make the farmers aware of the paddy straw management to further reduce incidents of stubble burning.

Chairing a meeting for preparations regarding crop residue management, the Chief Minister said the farmers must be made aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning through a communication campaign, adding they must be made aware of the provisions of subsidy on straw management equipment.

He said farmers must also be informed about the reduction in the cost of managing straw through custom hiring centres. Mann also advocated the establishment of custom hiring centres at panchayats and other common places.

The Chief Minister also directed Deputy Commissioners to launch a vigorous campaign to make the farmers aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning. He said it would help transform the war against paddy straw burning into a mass movement.

Mann said under the crop residue management scheme 2024-25, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Punjab had already called for applications from interested farmers in availing subsidies under the scheme through the agrimachinerypb.com portal.

The Chief Minister said the government has set a target of distributing 14,000 machines to individual farmers and establishment of 1,100 custom hiring centres.

Mann said the usage of the machines and the awareness campaign have led to a significant decrease in fire incidents.

He said there has been a reduction of 30 per cent in the number of fire incidents (71,159) in 2022-23 as compared to 76,929 in 2021-22 and a reduction of 26 per cent in the number of fire incidents (49,922) in 2023-24 as compared to 71,159 in 2022-23.

Likewise, Mann said a total reduction of 52 per cent in fire incidents has been observed in 2023-24 as compared to 2020-21.