Chandigarh, Sep 15 (IANS): To combat stubble burning, the Punjab government under the Crop Residue Management scheme has provided 31,970 machines to farmers, primary agriculture cooperatives societies, panchayats and customer hiring centres, state Agriculture Sukhdev Singh Sidhu said on Wednesday.

He said the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department has given approval to 10,297 applications till date for purchasing of 31,970 agri-machines or equipment to combat the menace of stubble burning.

According to Sidhu, the department has issued sanctions under five phases for purchasing the straw management machines with subsidies ranging from 50 to 80 per cent.

He said 76,626 straw management machines were given on subsidy to the farmers in the past three years.

Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar Sahib, Tarn Taran, Moga and Mansa were identified as the hotspot districts, where most of the paddy stubble burning cases were reported in the past.

He said the state was also making all-out efforts to deploy a special task force for enforcement and regulatory measures in these districts so as to ensure the prevention of stubble burning incidents in the ensuing paddy harvesting season.

Under the Crop Residue Management scheme, the state government has focused on delivering state-of-the-art machines to farmers, including Super SMS, Super Seeder, Happy Seeder, Paddy Straw Chopper, Hydraulic Reversible Mould Board Plough and Zero Till Drill, for in-situ management.