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Punjab turns heat on nodal officers as farm fires rage
Show-cause notices issued to 1,255 nodal officers, around 8,000 employees of various departments were deployed across the state to report fire incidents in real-time, visit the spots and put out the blaze.
Facing the heat for rising farm fire cases in Punjab, the state government has issued show-cause notices to 1,255 nodal officers and supervisors for “dereliction of duty”.
Around 8,000 employees of various departments were deployed across the state to report fire incidents in real-time, visit the spots and put out the blaze. Besides this, they were also expected to carry out awareness sessions for farmers to dissuade them from setting fields on fire.
These officials were also required to share daily action-taken reports through a mobile application developed by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) after verification of stubble burning incidents.
56 nodal officers face action under CAQM Act
The state government has also initiated prosecution against 56 nodal officers under Section 14 (penalty for contravention of provisions of Act, rules, order or direction) of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act, under which, if found guilty, an official may face a jail term of up to five years and fine up to ₹1 crore. The act mentions that this punishment shall, however, not be applicable to any farmer.
Eleven of the employees facing action under CAQM Act are deployed in Gurdaspur district and 10 in Amritsar.
The CAQM has already issued notices to deputy commissioners and senior superintendents of police in Sangrur and Ferozepur, directing them to send a detailed ‘explanation’ on the surge in farm fires in these districts to the commission by November 14.
Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairperson Adarsh Pal Vig said the deputy commissioners across the state were directed to take stern action against the erring officers in this kharif season.
“It is important to give out a strong message to the officers deputed to curb farm fires that any sort of leniency and dereliction of duty will not be tolerated. The main purpose of taking punitive action against erring officials is to streamline and execute a detailed action plan prepared by the government this season,” he said.
Vig added that they are also taking action against farmers who are not abiding with government directions against stubble burning.
“We have imposed an environmental compensation of ₹1.08 crore against the farmers, of which ₹69.52 lakh has already been recovered. As many as 3,288 red entries have been made in the revenue records of farmers this season,” he said.
Vikram Dev, state president of democratic teachers front, said the action against the nodal officers is unjustified as it is not the job of teachers to visit villages to douse the farm fires.
“Teachers, who were appointed nodal officers, were visiting villages to tackle stubble burning as directed by the state government, which claimed before coming to power that the teaching faculty would not be given any additional work,” he said.
