After SC rap, Mohali police book 27 farmers for stubble burning

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up Punjab and Haryana for tolerating farm fires by collecting nominal fines

After the apex court’s snub, the Mohali police have registered 27 cases against farmers for stubble burning across the district.

A farmer burning straw stubble at a field in Dera Bassi. A senior officer said that out of the total 27 farm fire cases, almost 19 were reported in Dera Bassi, Mohali. (HT Photo)

The district, which has over 350 villages, reported 133 stubble burning cases last year.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up Punjab and Haryana for tolerating farm fires by collecting nominal fines without initiating criminal prosecution against a single farmer under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR & Adjoining Areas Act, 2021.

A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka also ordered penal action against officials of the two state governments for breaching the commission’s order and summoned the two chief secretaries to appear before it on October 23 and explain why no stringent action was taken either against the offending farmers or officials who failed to carry out the prosecution.

Taking the warning seriously, local police have registered cases against all 27 farm fires reported in Mohali.

These farmers have been booked under Section 223 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the BNS and under Environment Protection Act at the rural police stations in the district including Kurali, Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Kharar.

“Our teams are working along with the administration officials round the clock to keep a check on the stubble burning. We have booked all the farmers involved in stubble burning as we won’t allow them to harm the environment,” Deepak Pareek, SSP, Mohali, said.

Meanwhile, the local administration has marked seven red entries in the revenue record of the farmers, all in Dera Bassi, in order to penalise those found burning stubble in their fields during paddy harvesting season. These farmers with red entries won’t be able to get loans from the banks against these lands. A few farmers have already approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against red entries.

The Punjab Pollution control board has collected ₹20,000 environment compensation from these farmers.

A senior administration officer said that out of total 27, almost 19 cases were reported in Dera Bassi and a single case was reported in Kharar. The Mohali authorities received these complaints through satellite images.

“Out of these 19 cases in Dera Bassi, 12 were no fire cases. Since the satellite failed to give an exact location, citing that the exact site may vary up to a kilometre, the field teams failed to find the spots. We have now told the police to only register FIRs in genuine farm fire cases and not against all the complaints received. Moreover, we are providing adequate machinery to the farmers so that they avoid stubble burning,” an administrative officer said.

Show-cause notice to official

Mohali deputy commissioner Aashika Jain has issued a show-cause notice to a nambardar in Banur for allegedly objecting and stopping the inspection team from taking action against a farmer involved in stubble burning.

“Farm fires have dipped as the local administration is regularly engaging with farmers in mandis also where we have our help desks,” the DC said.

P’kula farmer booked for burning paddy stubble

Panchkula : A case has been registered against a farmer in Panchkula for violating environmental regulations by burning paddy stubble. Despite the ban imposed on stubble burning, a farmer from Kanouli village was found setting crop residue on fire. The incident was reported by the village-level monitoring team, following which the police-initiated action.

According to the FIR, Man Raj, a resident of Kanouli village, burned stubble on 1.5 acres of land.

Air quality improves in UT

Chandigarh : After falling into the poor category on Sunday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) improved on Monday, going back into the moderate category.

Average AQI at 7 pm was highest in the Sector 53 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) Sector 53 at 187 followed by 166 at CAAQMS Sector 22 and 126 at CAAQMS Sector 25. In Panchkula, it was 182 at the Haryana State Pollution Control Board office in Sector 6. On Sunday, AQI had crossed 200 in both Sector 22 and Sector 53, and the AQI had remained poor throughout the day in Sector 53.

Meanwhile, temperature continued along similar lines with maximum temperature falling from 33.3°C on Sunday to 32.8°C on Monday, 1.5 degrees above normal. Minimum temperature rose from 18.4°C on Sunday to 18.7°C on Monday, 2.3 degrees above normal.

-- With inputs from Naina Mishra & Rajanbir Singh