Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said bio-decomposer is a successful technique to tackle stubble burning and requested the Centre and neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to adopt it.

“Therefore, for the safety of people, the Delhi government issued advertisements to create awareness about this new technique by spending Rs 15,80,36,828,” the DIP stated in the reply.

Ninety per cent of the farmers claimed that the solution turned stubble into manure in 15-20 days. Also, the content of carbon in the soil increased by 40 per cent, nitrogen 24 per cent, bacteria seven times and fungi three times. Sprouting of wheat also increased by 17-20 per cent, the chief minister said.

1. Rise in Air pollution in Delhi and NCR territory, arising from stubble burning, has been a matter of concern every year.

2. Pusa bio-decomposer is a solution developed by the scientists at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, which can turn crop residue into manure in 15 to 20 days.

3. The decomposers are in the form of capsules made by extracting fungi strains, which can produce the essential enzymes for the degradation process.

4. Eventually these fungi strains help the paddy straw to decompose at a faster pace than the usual rate.

5. Pusa Institute and the government trained around 1,400-1,500 farmers in converting stubble into compost at a special camp, the DIP said.

6. Last year, the Delhi government distributed the bio-decomposer free of cost which was used by farmers on 1,935 acres of land in 39 villages to convert stubble into manure, he said.

7. A survey by a central government agency, WAPCOS, has come up with very encouraging results on the use of the bio-decomposer.

It is also an eco-friendly and environmentally useful technology therefore remains aligned towards the Government’s objectives, classified under the “ Swachh Bharat Mission”.