The farm fire cases in the district have risen almost threefold in the last five days. By November 5, the district had 57 cases of farm fires. This rose to 148 cases by November 9, as per the data shared by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).
FIRs have been registered in 26 of these cases as well. According to the PPCB, a farmer with a land holding under two acres is charged ₹5,000 in penalty for farm fire, a farmer with a land holding between two and five acres is charged ₹10,000. Those having above five acres are charged ₹30,000.
The PPCB has imposed ₹3 lakh in environmental compensation (EC) in these cases. Around ₹1,25,000 of this has been recovered so far. Besides penalties, 22 cases have also led to “red entries”. A “red entry” is a penalty in records which bars the land from being mortgaged or sold. The penalised farmer can’t even access farm loans. It is pertinent to mention here that last year recorded 322 cases of farm fires.
The rising cases appear to be affecting the air quality index in the city, as it rose to 207 on Sunday, which falls in the poor category.
{{/usCountry}}The rising cases appear to be affecting the air quality index in the city, as it rose to 207 on Sunday, which falls in the poor category.
{{/usCountry}}So far, 97% of paddy grown in the district is complete. Paddy transplantation began on July 9 and the department estimated the kharif crop was cultivated on around 2.57 lakh hectares of land. The harvest began in the first week of October. So far, 12.56 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have arrived across the mandis in the district. The agriculture department expected 29-30 quintals per acre.
Meanwhile, wheat crop on 50% of the area, which is expected to be under the rabi crop, has been sown so far. Agriculture officials expect the wheat crop to be cultivated on 2.4 lakh hectares with a 50 quintal yield per hectare.