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Onus on SHOs to stop farm fire incidents in their areas in Punjab
The government has also ordered all SHOs to personally patrol areas under their police stations to check cases.
Punjab government on Wednesday issued detailed orders to check stubble burning in the wake of Supreme Court directions and ordered that disciplinary action will be initiated against the station house officers (SHOs) in case of any farm fire incident in their jurisdiction area.
The government has also ordered all SHOs to personally patrol areas under their police stations to check cases.
The orders, issued by Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma, also stated that the police and civil administration will check village-wise incidents at 6:30 pm daily based on satellite-related data.
The directions were issued after two meetings held here on Wednesday with regard to the implementation of the top court’s orders. The first meeting was chaired by the state chief secretary and another by Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav, in which he interacted with all the officers in the field through video-conference to the level of SHOs.
It was also decided to appoint DGP (law and order) as the nodal officer for checking the burning of paddy straw-related issues.
“The police nodal officer shall issue suitable directions, hold meetings, conduct tours, and collect and collate relevant information and put up to the DGP, Punjab, and the chief secretary so that monitoring of the actions being taken by the police to ensure compliance of the directions of the Supreme Court is done effectively,” the order read.
DGP also stressed the need to work in tandem with the civil administration to prevent stubble burning in the state and ordered all CPs and SSPs to hold daily meetings with district magistrates and review the situation daily at 6:30 pm.
“Besides ensuring that the SHOs personally patrol in their jurisdictions and take steps to stop stubble burning immediately, CPs and SSPs will divide the districts into sectors and depute a gazetted officer as in-charge of the sector. The sector officer should be out in the area supervising the patrolling being done by the SHOs and other police station teams to ensure stopping of stubble burning,” directions issued by Punjab DGP said.
The DGP said depending upon the area and size of the police station, a sufficient number of additional patrolling parties are being activated with immediate effect.
Sharing details, a police spokesperson said the district police has been directed to engage farmers, citizens and various stakeholders to sensitise them about the ill effects of the stubble burning, which is also a violation of law and action could be initiated against them.
“SSPs should request the district magistrates for joint field visits to be conducted by the DM and the SSP for overall supervision. FIRs be registered for violation of law, and farmers should be engaged and informed that stubble burning is violative of law and action would be taken against them,” say the directions.
It further directed that the alternate mechanisms available for stubble burning should be fully utilised.
“SSPs should analyze resources available and in coordination with the civil administration ensure that all available resources are deployed to stop farm fires.
“Collection points where stubble can be stored after being moved from the fields have already been earmarked by the civil administration. These should be utilised optimally. Liaison and coordination be maintained with the fire department for the deployment of fire tenders, wherever required,” the directions say.
