5-fold rise in FIRs as Punjab takes a tough stance against farm fires
The tough stance seemed to have paid off as the state recorded a 70% drop in farm fire cases this year. Against 36,663 cases between September 15 and November 30 last year, 10,909 cases were reported this year
A record 5,783 FIRs were registered against farmers for stubble burning this season, which is five times more than last year’s figure, as per the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) data. Besides, 5,454 red entries were also made in the revenue records of erring farmers.
The tough stance seemed to have paid off as the state recorded a 70% drop in farm fire cases this year. Against 36,663 cases between September 15 and November 30 last year, 10,909 cases were reported this year.
Besides registering FIRs under Section 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Punjab government also imposed environmental compensation of ₹2.16 crore in 5,515 cases. The Commission for Air Quality Management had doubled the environment compensation from ₹2,500 per two acres to ₹5,000 this season. Farmers with two acres or more but less than five acres were to pay ₹10,000 against ₹5,000 earlier. Cultivators having land of more than five acres were made to pay an environmental compensation of ₹30,000 per incidence.
Action against nodal officers
The government also fixed responsibility on nodal officers and supervisors, issuing show-cause notices to 1,384 such employees for “dereliction of duty”.
The state government had also initiated prosecution proceedings against 82 nodal officers under Section 14 (penalty for contravention of provisions of Act, rules, order or direction) of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act, under which, if found guilty, an official may face a jail term of up to five years and fine up to ₹1 crore. The act mentions that this punishment shall, however, not be applicable to any farmer.
“This is for the first time that such stringent action was initiated against the nodal officers and supervisors at such a large scale. The employees deployed in the field were informed right from the beginning that no dereliction of duty would be tolerated,” a senior PPCB official said.
Over 9,000 employees of various departments were deployed across the state to report fire incidents in real-time, visit the spots and put out the blaze.
PPCB chairperson Adarsh Pal Vig said the Punjab remote sensing centre, Ludhiana, reported a reduction of 70.24% in cases from 2023 and 78.14% from 2022.
“All credit goes to the Punjab government officers and PPCB team for their concerted efforts and hard work in bringing down the cases. Better planning and execution resulted in steep reduction in stubble burning,” Vig said.
Sangrur had highest cases
With 1,725 cases, Sangrur achieved the notorious distinction of having the highest number of stubble burning cases this season. Last year too, Sangrur had reported the highest 5,613 cases in the state.
Before the start of paddy harvesting, the PPCB had identified eight districts -- Sangrur, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Moga, Barnala, Mansa, Tarn Taran and Faridkot as hotspot districts.
Ferozepur district reported 1,342 cases of stubble burning followed by 876 in Tarn Taran, 816 in Muktsar, 750 in Bathinda, 716 in Muktsar, 691 in Mansa and 542 in Patiala.
