Day after SC rap, Punjab records season’s most farm fires — 6,668

On the same day (November 5) in 2017 and 2018, the filed fire incidents in the state were 1985 and 1001, respectively, revealed data from Punjab Remote Sensing Centre.

As per the data given by Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Sangrur district continues to top the list with 1007 stubble fires reported from here. On Monday, the figure from Sangrur was 862.

Bathinda was the district with the second-highest number of fires reported Tuesday at 945, while Moga with 628 had the third highest stubble fires number for the day.Tuesday’s figures for other districts were Barnala (563), Mansa (546), Ferozepur (491), Patiala (427), Ludhiana (422), Muktsar (403), Faridkot (306), Fazilka (185), Jalandhar (175), Tarn Taran (149), Kapurthala (106), Amritsar (103), Gurdaspur (74), Fatehgarh Sahib (66), Hoshiarpur (20), Nawanshahar (19), Ropar (11), Mohali (10) and Pathankot (2).

Miffed at the deterioration in air quality in Delhi over the past few days, largely blamed on rampant stubble burning in neighbouring states during winters, the Supreme Court has called the chief secretaries of three states — Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — to appear in person on Wednesday to report to it on the matter.

On Tuesday, the state authorities lodged over 200 FIRs in a single day in over seven districts of Punjab against farmers and arrested nearly 30 farmers on charges of stubble burning and obstructing government officials on duty.

In Ludhiana, 45 FIRs were registered against farmers and 22 farmers were arrested Tuesday. While in Ferozepur, 22 FIRs were lodged. While Muktsar saw 47 FIRs against farmers, it also witnessed a protest against officials by burning stubble in Doda village.
In Sangrur, 24 FIRs were lodged, according to DC Ghanshyam Thori, while 48 FIRs were filed in Bathinda. Faridkot DC Kumar Saurabh revealed that 21 FIRs have been lodged against farmers in the district.

Apart from this flag marches were carried out in different locations of Punjab. On an average, 20 flag march were taken out in a single district.

Struggling to control stubble burning, the DCs urged sarpanches to step in. They pointed out that the Supreme Court had said that accountability of the village sarpanch can also be fixed if he/she fails to prevent such fire incidents.

Besides registering FIRs, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) also issued challans.

Ludhiana DC Pradeep Kumar Agrawal stated that PPCB has filed 34 challans directly in the court, while 13 combines have been challaned Rs 2 lakh each as Super SMS was not fitted on them. Further, red entries in khasra girdawri’s are being made, and 77 cluster teams are out checking stubble burning in the district. Ludhiana also has a helpline number 0161-2404502 which is operational 24X7 for reporting straw burning incidents.

In Faridkot, total 48 challans were issued and red entries of 82 errant farmers were done in revenue records. In Bathinda, total fine imposed on farmers is Rs 30 lakh so far, while 704 farmers have been penalised with red entries in revenue records in Sangrur. Around 17 lakh fine has also been imposed in Sangrur in over 640 cases.

Eight farmers have been arrested in Muktsar, revealed information from Muktsar DC’s office.

Officials detained in two Mansa villages

Meanwhile, officials trying to crackdown on stubble burning in two other Mansa villages faced stiff opposition from farmers. Patwari Ved Parkash had gone to make a report on stubble burning along with agriculture development officer to villages Bhainibagha and Heerwala. In Heerwala, they were not allowed to make any report and in Bhainibagha village — which belongs to Ram Singh Bhainibagha, president of BKU(Ugrahan), they were detained by farmers affiliated to the union. They were only allowed to leave after police arrived.

Ram Singh told The Indian Express, “After police assured us that they will not take any action against us, we let the officials go. As of now they have not done anything, but we don’t know what will they do after going to their office. However, our stand to protest against officials whenever they come in fields will continue as usual. We are not burning fields by choice, it is our compulsion.”

In Budhlalda village (Mansa district), two farmers were arrested Tuesday for setting stubble on fire. But both were released after farmer unions staged a dharna outside the Budhlada police station. Joginder Singh Dayal, block president of Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan), said, “We also got the papers related to their arrest destroyed, otherwise they would drag our members to court.”

—WITH INPUTS FROM ENS, CHANDIGARH & PTI