Rebel AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira Tuesday condemned the Punjab government for "failing to tackle" stubble burning and falsely challaning over 100 farmers for burning crop residue.
He said the administration has imposed a fine of Rs 2.56 lakh on the farmers. He deplored the district administration of Amritsar for challaning 101 farmers in the past three days for flouting the ban on burning of crop residue in their fields.
Khaira said although he stands for clean environment and does not support burning of stubble but farmers have no option, as the government has completely failed to provide machinery, subsidy or financial assistance to them to consume the straw in the fields instead of burning.
In a statement, he said the government had one full year to make arrangements for the required equipment to consume straw in the soil but it failed to do so.
Khaira said the farmers of Punjab are already under a huge debt burden of Rs 1 lakh crore and continue to commit suicides in large numbers each day, how can the government expect them to spend an additional Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per acre from their own pocket to consume the straw in the soil?
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