Police have registered 60 First-Information Reports (FIRs) against farmers for burning stubble in the district, Gurdaspur chief agricultural officer (CAO) Dr Raminder Singh said on Monday.
He added that this year 243 cases of stubble burning had been reported in the district, against 491 such instances in the corresponding period last year.
“Farmers must stop this practice immediately. On Sunday, a stubble fire started at Gunnopur village, 10 km from Gurdaspur, spread in around 150 acre, causing a loss to crops of other farmers,” said the CAO.
A farmer Balwinder Singh, of the village, said this stubble fire spread and gutted his sugarcane crop grown over 4 acre, leading to a loss of Rs lakh. Gurdaspur SDM Skattar Singh Bal said he had provided assistance to the agriculture department to identify the loss in such fires and bring all culprits to book.
The CAO added farmers were being booked for burning stubble, as per the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal.