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Farmers force officials to burn stubble after holding them hostage in Bathinda
Station house officer of Nehinawala Karamjeet Kaur said a case has been registered against nine persons, including Ram Singh, who had set afire stubble in his fields and BKU activists, namely —Baljit Singh and Surjit Singh
A three-member Punjab government inspection team deputed to check paddy stubble burning was not only held hostage but was also forced to light the crop residue by farmers of Nehianawala village, 15km from Bathinda, on Friday. Activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) had held the official hostage.
The farmers recorded the humiliation of the three officials on their phones and posted the video on social media, sparking an outrage. Though the team reported the matter to the authorities on Friday itself, an FIR was registered only after chief minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the police to act on Saturday.
The chief minister took to X to express displeasure over the incident and posted the video, where the farmers can be identified.
Police said a case is being registered. Bathinda SSP Gulneet Khurana said the accused farmers have been identified and teams have been deployed to arrest them.
Station house officer of Nehinawala Karamjeet Kaur said a case has been registered against nine persons, including Ram Singh, who had set afire stubble in his fields and BKU activists, namely —Baljit Singh and Surjit Singh — under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) 506 (Criminal Intimidation) 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
No accused has been arrested so far.
The incident occurred around 3.30 pm on a day when Punjab reported 1,551 farm fires, taking the total number of stubble burning cases to 12,813. Bathinda was the most polluted district in the state as the air quality index due to the resultant smog was 349, which falls in the very poor category.
The three-member team, led by public works department (PWD) sub-divisional engineer (SDE) Harpreet Sagar, acted on a tip-off and reached Nehianawala village to find the field of a farmer, Ram Singh, on fire.
“On reaching the spot, I urged Ram Singh to douse the fire and tried to sensitise him about the adverse effects of residue burning. He expressed inability to manage the stubble in an eco-friendly manner and started making phone calls. Soon, a large number of villagers reached the spot and started misbehaving with us. The mob forced me to light the stubble,” Sagar said.
Sagar, who was accompanied by junior engineers Shamsher Singh and Sukhpal Singh, said he immediately informed the deputy commissioner’s office and senior officials of the department (PWD) in Bathinda.
The officials swung into action only after the video shot by the farmers started doing the rounds on social media on Saturday. Official sources said Sagar had submitted a written complaint to the authorities on Friday itself.
Meanwhile, the state president of BKU (Sidhupur) Jagjit Singh Dallewal lamented the CM’s order to initiate legal action against the farmers.
In a video message posted on the union’s Facebook page this evening, Dallewal said instead of providing financial assistance and deploying ample balers for stubble management, the authorities are unfairly taking police action.
“BKU appeals to farmers to desist from being rude to officials on duty to curb residue burning. We appeal the government to cancel FIRs and desist from arresting farmers, failing which police stations will be gheraoed and agitation will be launched,” Dallewal said.
