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Punjab farm fires: Patwari held hostage by farmers in Faridkot, released after over 24 hours
Under fire for failing to check paddy stubble burning that is causing severe air pollution in the region, Punjab government officials out to inspect such incidents are facing the heat from angry farmers too as third incident of taking officials hostage surfaces in state
In the third incident of its kind in Punjab in a week, farmers held a revenue official who had gone to inspect paddy stubble burning incidents hostage at Jeon Wala village in Faridkot district’s Kotkapura sub-division for over 24 hours since Thursday afternoon.
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The district administration rushed a police team to patwari Sukhdeep Singh’s rescue, but all talks with the farmers failed till Thursday night, as they remained adamant on a written assurance that no action will be taken against them for burning crop residue.
The official was eventually released on Friday afternoon after a written assurance from the district administration through a naib tehsildar.
Accusing the state government of double standards, the farmers said on the one hand chief minister Bhagwant Mann and agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had announced that no action will be taken against farmers burning paddy stubble, and on the other hand, teams of officials were being sent to take action.
Field belongs to BKU Ekta-Ugrahan leader
It is learnt that the field where patwari Sukhdeep Singh had gone for inspection after the nodal officer’s verification belongs to BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) district vice-president Nirmal Singh. “Agriculture officer Boota Ram is the nodal officer in this area. A few days ago, he initiated action against farmers for burning stubble despite the government’s assurance to us that no action will be taken. Following that, the patwari arrived on Thursday and was stopped by us. He called other government officials. We want Boota Ram to give an assurance that he will not act against farmers,” Nirmal Singh said.
“We told them that the administration should give in writing and announce from a stage that no FIR will be registered against farmers burning stubble. All cases already registered by the police should be withdrawn. At first, they agreed, but later they turned back. So, we detained the patwari. But on Friday, the officials gave us assurance, so we released him,” he said.
Officials left patwari behind
Patwari Sukhdeep Singh said he had visited Jeon Wala on the directions of senior officials of his department to act against stubble burning.
Nodal officers appointed by the government are to identify farm fire incidents pointed out by the satellite. If verified, it’s the patwari’s duty to forward the information of the land record to the cluster officer, who recommends registration of case.
“On Wednesday, the nodal officer verified the farm fire in the village after which I arrived but the farmers held me hostage. The district officials returned without me. It’s disappointing that we have been under pressure to do our duty in such situations but when such incidents happen, they leave us behind,” he said.
DC assures farmers of no action
Faridkot deputy commissioner Ruhee Dugg said the district administration was in constant touch with the farmers to get the patwari released. “After talks with farmers, we got four patwaris and a cluster officer released on Thursday, but one patwari was left behind. On Friday, we agreed to the farmers’ demand that no red entries will be made in the revenue records and assured them that no action will be taken against them. We will also assist them in stubble management and a baller will be provided to Jeon Wala village. After assurance, the patwari was released by the farmers,” she said.
Officials caught in crossfire
Revenue officials tasked with implementing norms are under fire from the government for going soft on defaulter farmers, while they have been facing the heat of farmers’ ire on the ground.
On November 1, farmers held government officials hostage for three hours and also seized their vehicles at Kalala village in Barnala. The officials, along with fire brigade personnel, had gone to douse the fire in fields when farmers seized the fire tender and drove it to a gurdwara and parked it there.
On October 29, an official of the state cooperative department on duty to check paddy stubble burning was also held captive for over five hours by activists of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) at Bathinda’s Mehma Sarja village.
