New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) held a meeting with officials of Punjab and Haryana on Friday and discussed steps to check farm fires.The commission directed the officials to ensure that surplus paddy residue is fully managed. It ordered them to intensify vigilance through the parali protection force.The commission asked Punjab to accelerate biomass cofiring in thermal power plants and to promote the use of paddy straw in power generation. It directed Haryana to ensure that any farmer who resorts to stubble burning are penalised and does not get incentivised. TNN
