DW BUREAU / chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked the Congress government to pay compensation of Rs 2,500 per acre to marginal farmers for not burning their paddy stubble to avoid incidents like confinement of revenue officers going to check stubbing burning as had happened in Sangrur yesterday. In a statement here, SAD Kisan Wing President Sikander Singh Maluka said marginal farmers with less than five acres of land had been betrayed by the Congress government which refused to pay the promised compensation of Rs 2,500 per acre to them for managing their paddy stubbly. "Many farmers had teamed up and even purchased straw management machines but with no compensation being given by the State government they have been cheated. Many unfortunately have gone back to stubble burning and even confronted revenue officials who tried to stop this practice resulting in yesterday's incident of confinement of 21 Patwaris as well as a Naib Tehsildar at Sangrur." Maluka said the farmers were claiming that officers should not harass them as the government had failed to help them in managing their paddy stubble. He said the farmer anger was more this time because it was the second consecutive year that the Punjab government failed to compensate farmers for managing paddy stubble and the failure to do so was causing social strife. The Supreme Court had passed orders last year directing the States to give an compensation of Rs 2,500 per acre to farmers to manage their paddy straw. The SAD leader said the Congress government's refusal to come to the aid of marginal farmers had also come in the way of increased mechanization to tackle paddy straw. He said had the Punjab government acted in earnest the number of straw reapers in Punjab would have increased manifold resulting in a huge reduction in stubble burning cases. Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said a 15-member impact assessment committee will ascertain the effectiveness of "Pusa bio-decomposer" solution in reducing stubble burning in the national capital. He also said that those found violating the ban on firecrackers can be fined up to Rs 1 lakh by the administration. "The government has decided to set up an impact assessment committee to ascertain the effectiveness of Pusa bio-decomposer in reducing stubble burning in Delhi," Rai said during a press conference in New Delhi. "We have ascertained its effectiveness in non-basmati rice fields in Hiranki village in Narela. Now, the committee will determine its impact in the entire Delhi," he said. Rai said the impact assessment panel will have five MLAs and officials from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, and the Agriculture Department. The committee has been asked to submit an assessment report to the government within a week. (editor@dailyworld.in)