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Punjab cracks the whip on farm fires, registers 251 FIRs
On Thursday, a maximum of 34 FIRs were registered in Muktsar district, followed by 29 in Moga and 22 each in Tarn Taran and Sangrur.
A record number of 251 FIRs were registered across Punjab in the past 24 hours as the state government started a crackdown to curb stubble-burning incidents, Punjab Police’s official spokesperson said on Thursday.
According to the spokesperson, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav held a meeting with officers of all ranks up to station house officers (SHOs) to ensure compliance with directions of the Supreme Court and as many as 251 FIRs have been registered in two days.
Till November 7, only 18 FIRs had been registered across the state. However, most of the FIRs have been registered without any name.
“In Punjab, there is a common trend of subletting land on contract. There is no immediate way to ascertain if farmers who have burnt stubble have done it with the permission of the owner or not,” the official said.
Nodal officer for the farm fires, DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said the Punjab Police is doing its best to implement the Supreme Court directions. “Curbing farm fires is our biggest priority and we will do it at any cost,” he said.
On Thursday, a maximum of 34 FIRs were registered in Muktsar district, followed by 29 in Moga and 22 each in Tarn Taran and Sangrur.
DGP Yadav said 1,309 meetings were held by the SHOs with sarpanches to sensitise them about the Supreme Court orders and as many as 638 flying squads comprising police and civil officials have been formed to keep vigil at stubble burning.
“Fines worth ₹88.23 lakh have been imposed on 3,836 people found burning stubble in the past 24 hours,” the official spokesperson added.
A maximum fine was imposed in Moga amounting to ₹4.27 lakh.
The Commissioner of Police and senior superintendent of police (SSPs) have been holding meetings with farm leaders at a district level, while DSPs are holding meetings with farm leaders at the block level, officials said.
“We have adopted a muti-prolong strategy to implement the Supreme Court guidelines. Efforts are on to engage with the farmers and at the same time take action against the erring farmers. We are making our best efforts to implement the apex court guidelines,” DGP Gaurav Yadav said.
40 farm fires doused by officials in Patiala: SDM
Patiala District administration remained on its toes throughout the day and doused as many as 40 farm fires on Thursday, Patiala SDM said.
Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs), senior police officials and officials from other stakeholder departments held meetings with sarpanches and the farmers and also kept patrolling the district to stop stubble burning.
“We have doused around 40 farm fires throughout the day. Where there is a major fire, fire tenders are being pressed into service while our officers themselves were involved in dousing the fires,” said Dr Ismat Vijay Singh, SDM, Patiala.
The Patiala deputy commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said that due to the efforts of the officials, there has been a dip in stubble-burning incidents on Thursday.
“From 106 on Wednesday, the number came down to 29 on Thursday. I, along with officials, were out in the fields to curb the stubble burning. We are hopeful that number will go down further in coming days,” the DC said.
The DC said around 70% of the paddy in the district had already been harvested. “The next few days will be highly crucial as the window of sowing wheat is getting narrow by the day. Farmers, instead of using balers (ex-situ), should now resort to in-situ methods to manage stubble to save time so as to sow wheat as early as possible,” said Sakshi.
Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, said, “We have registered multiple FIRs against farmers who despite the repeated requests indulged in stubble burning.”
32 FIRs registered in Sangrur, Barnala
Sangrur/ Barnala:
Sangrur district on Thursday recorded the highest number of farm fire cases (135) in the state while Barnala witnessed 14 incidents.
The total number of stubble-burning cases has reached 4,305 in Sangrur and 913 in Barnala district in this kharif season. Last year on the same day, Sangrur district witnessed 149 and Barnala 138 cases.
The police have also swung into action and registered 32 FIRs in Barnala and Sangrur districts. However, not even a single farmer was named in the FIRs.
Police claimed that as of now they have registered cases on information obtained from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre and they are busy controlling farm fires. Therefore, an investigation into the FIRs will be carried out later.
As per official figures, 22 FIRs have been lodged in Sangrur district and 10 in Barnala district in the last 48 hours. The cases were registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC.
Sangrur SSP Surendra Lamba said, “We have registered FIRs based on latitude and longitude. Farmers will be named in these FIRs after conducting an investigation. Right now, we are focusing on controlling and dousing the fire and will investigate cases later.”
Barnala SSP Sandeep Kumar Malik, said, “As of now, cases have been registered against unidentified farmers and action will be taken against offenders after identifying them.”
Sangrur deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal and the Sangrur SSP visited agriculture fields where paddy straw was set on fire and led the teams to douse the fire. The district administration and police have formed multiple teams to control the fire and to motivate farmers to shun this practice.
Jorwal said, “The administration and police department are working round the clock to control the stubble burning. We are requesting farmers to adopt environment-friendly methods to manage paddy straw at their fields.”
Officials remain on toes in south Malwa
BATHINDA Top officials of the south Malwa districts remained on their toes on Thursday to curb the incidents of paddy stubble burning as the number of fire events nosedived on Thursday. South Malwa comprises Bathinda, Faridkot, Mansa, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Moga and Fazilka
As per the data of the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), seven districts of the region witnessed 298 cases which was 35% less than Wednesday when a total of 861 fire events were recorded.
Today, no district of the region touched the three-digit figure. Mansa recorded 96 cases, the maximum in the southwest zone of the state taking the district’s total to 1,815 cases this season to date.
With 83 new fires, Ferozepur’s total number reached 2,259, the second-highest highest incidents after Sangrur. Information gathered from various districts said the official teams led by the deputy commissioners and senior superintendents remained in the field to check farm fires.
Mansa deputy commissioner (DC) Paramvir Singh visited several villages including Khair Kalan and Bir Khurd and immediate efforts were made to douse the fire.
Bathinda DC Showkat Ahmad Parray said she visited several villages on Talwandi Sabo road and two cases were found where farmers had set the stubble on fire in the fields.
“The district has already processed 2 lakh quintals of paddy stubble for use in industries. As nearly 25% area of the paddy area is still to be harvested, we are equipped to make bales of another 2 lakh quintals in the next few days,” said the DC. Parray said environmental compensation worth ₹3.74 lakh has been imposed on violators. The district has recorded 1,453 fire events to date but no FIR has been registered to date.
Bathinda SSP Gulneet Khurana said the process to take legal action is underway. In Faridkot, the administration has lodged 40 FIRs even as the district has seen 1,032 fire cases. Ferozepur, which has recorded 2,259, the second-highest fire incidents in the state to date, has booked 31 farmers in the last 48 hours.
Fazilka DC Senu Duggal remained on the field with other officials for the second consecutive day today. She said fire brigades have been pressed into service to douse fires wherever reported. The district has seen 350 fire events, the lowest in southwest Punjab. SSP Fazilka Manjit Singh Dhesi said 11 FIRs were registered today making it to a total of 12 this season.
With inputs from Vishal Joshi (Bathinda), Karam Prakash (Patiala) and Harmandeep Singh (Sangrur)
