Chandigarh, Feb. 18 -- The Punjab agriculture department has decided to introduce five-year financing for crop residue management (CRM) machines, which will be provided to farmers on a subsidy hypothecated to banks for in-situ stubble management, especially during the paddy harvest season. The machines will be hypothecated to banks to ensure they are not lost, misplaced, or sold. The subsidy amount on the machines will be transferred to the banks instead of the farmers, as was practised earlier. The government offers a subsidy of 30% to 80% on the machines to individual farmers, the custom hiring centres, and village panchayats. The move comes after a 2022 physical verification survey found that the 11,000 to 40,000 subsidised machines of the total 1.5 lakh distributed to farmers were either missing or non-functional, leading to allegations of a scam. A pilot was conducted in the last season by giving some machines through financing, and in the upcoming season, all 15,000 machines proposed to be given to the farmers will be hypothecated through the banks. An outlay for the project is Rs.500 crore "All systems are in place, and tie-ups with the banks have been finalised. We are adopting the new system in the paddy harvest season," said an official in the state agriculture directorate, requesting anonymity. The move has drawn sharp criticism from the farmers' bodies, who claimed that the government is trying to bind the cultivators. "The scheme should be rejected, and the subsidy should be given to the farmers," said Jagmohan Singh of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Dakounda. Since the launch of this centrally sponsored scheme in 2018, over 1.5 lakh SRM machines were distributed, and the conservation of the machines remained a concern for the state authorities. The physical verification of CRM machines in 2022 revealed that over 11,000 to 40,000 subsidised machines were either missing or non-functional, leading to allegations of a Rs.150 crore scam. The survey also revealed that nearly 40,000 (one-fourth) are no longer in use. Between 2018 and 2025, Punjab spent between Rs.175 crore and Rs.375 crore annually on crop residue management. Funding was entirely borne by the Centre until 2022, after which it shifted to a 60:40 Centre-state sharing pattern. Shortages were noted in districts Faridkot, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Bathinda, Moga, and Patiala. An inquiry into the matter was initiated by the Centre's enforcement directorate, after which the vigilance bureau took over. CRM machines, such as happy seeders, mulchers, reapers, shredders, bailers, super seeders, reverse ploughs, etc., are tractor-mounted implements used to manage paddy straw without burning. "We consider five years as the life of each machine, after which it is declared redundant. Farmers can use these machines further, but the department will not ask for the whereabouts," said an official of the state agriculture department. Burning of crop residue during the onset of winter leads to dense smog over northern India, posing serious health and environmental risks....