Chandigarh, Sept. 20 -- Hoping to keep the stubble burning count low, the Punjab government has sanctioned 15,613 crop residue management (CRM) machines for farmers this season. The government has already received 16,837 applications from across the state for 42,476 machines, agriculture and farmers welfare minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said on Friday, adding that the super-seeder machine has emerged as the most popular choice, with a total of 14,493 applications for it. Agriculture department officials said 9,500 machines have been delivered while the rest will be delivered by the first week of October. They added that floods in August had caused a delay in handing over the machines. The minister said an outlay of Rs.500 crore has been sanctioned by the Union ministry of agriculture, out of which Punjab will contribute 40%. An official in the agriculture directorate said, "This time, the focus is on custom hiring centres (CHCs). We have a target of setting up 1,500 such centres, out of which 1,319 have already been set up. The CHCs will get machines worth up to a maximum of Rs.30 lakh with an offer of Rs.24 lakh subsidy. The stubble management scheme was started in 2018 following the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office. The government also plans to reach out to 4,367 individual farmers with subsidised machines. "We want to reach out to the maximum number of farmers and village panchayats," added the official, not willing to be named. Individual farmers are offered 60% subsidy while panchayats, CHCs and self-help groups get 80% subsidy. The government is offering 65% subsidy on big machines for collecting paddy straw. This includes a tractor, a baler and a rake machine which comes in two cost versions of Rs.1 crore (26 machines given) or Rs.1.5 crore (eight machines given). "Big industrial houses and entrepreneurs have opted for these machines," said the official. The target is to give 40 such machines. This season paddy was sown over 32.5 lakh hectares, out of which premium aromatic basmati was sown over 6.81 lakh hectares. A total of 180 lakh tonnes of paddy was expected to be produced this season, however, the quantity and quality may drop due to floods. Every year, smoke rising from the fields is seen as a contributory factor towards air pollution, leading to the formation of a smog cover over the skies in North Indian states particularly National capital New Delhi. From 2018 to 2024, a sum of Rs.1,680 crore has been spent on subsidies towards the machines for paddy stubble management in Punjab. A total of 1.48 lakh machines have been given to farmers on subsidy in the past seven years. Agriculture and farmers welfare secretary Dr Basant Garg said that due to the concerted efforts, Punjab had witnessed a 70% decline in farm fires last year, with the number of stubble burning incidents dropping to 10,909, from 36,663 in 2023....