New Delhi: Ahead of the harvesting season, the Delhi government has written to a consultancy firm of the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, asking it to conduct an audit of Pusa bio-decomposer, which the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation had hailed as a new, cost-effective solution to stubble burning last year.
The decision comes against the backdrop of some "negative" comments from farmers in Punjab and "positive" feedback from Haryana following the use of the technique, which uses a microbial solution for fermenting stubble into manure, officials in the Delhi Environment Department
said.
Former Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had last year said Pusa bio-decomposer will be tried out in some areas of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and if the technique is found successful, it will be expanded to more areas.
"We have written to WAPCOS to conduct an audit of Pusa bio-decomposer in Delhi. They will take feedback from the farmers who sprayed the solution in their fields last year," A P Saini, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, said.
"We have already released the results of the efficacy survey conducted last year. Now, we are looking to get Pusa bio-decomposer validated by a third party (WAPCOS). The audit is likely to start next week," the official said.