CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab, while applauding the steps being taken by the Kejriwal government in Delhi to tackle the taxing problem of straw, said that the innovative Delhi model would prove to be a boon for Punjab where the problem had assumed alarming proportions. It stated that the dedication and fierce determination with which the Delhi government had been working on the flagship project to turn straw into compost proved the point that nothing was impossible to achieve if you had the drive and determination.
In a statement issued from party headquarters on Saturday, senior leader of the party and Leader of Opposition (LoP), Harpal Singh Cheema, said that the Delhi government had been tirelessly working for two-three years now to come out with a scientific solution to the perennial problem of stubble burning. The Delhi government was working on a viable solution to the stubble burning problem at research and development (R&D) project through the Pusa Institute. He added that days after spraying the formula prepared by the institute, the stubble turns into compost.
Harpal Singh Cheema on the occasion informed that Jarnail Singh, MLA and in charge of Punjab political affairs took him (Cheema) along with other Punjab MLAs, including Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Aman Arora and Meet Hayer to Pusa Institute yesterday to have a closer look at how the straw turned into compost.
Cheema said that the results of the preliminary trial were very encouraging and hoped that by the next year, the efforts of the Delhi government would end up in a stark reality, which would prove to be a boon for Punjab farmers, the soil and environment.
Harpal Singh Cheema said that had the state and Union governments been sensitive and sincere to find a lasting solution to the nagging problem of straw, the crisis would have been solved decades ago.
The LoP further said that the latest ordinance brought in by the Central Government were a fit example to cite to probe the point, adding that those farmers indulging in burning of straw would be sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, besides a fine of up to Rs. 1 crore.
Strongly condemning the Centre's black laws, Cheema said that the penalty and punishment should instead be imposed on Punjab Government and the Union Government, which had done nothing to churn out a lasting solution to the problem of stubble burning for several decades since independence, adding that the farmer burnt straw out of compulsion, since the governments had failed to give compensation / bonus to the farmers to meet the expenses incurred on disposal of straw.