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In 5 days, 11 cases of stubble burning reported in Mohali
Last year, 19 FIRs were registered and seven violators were sent to court for prosecution, but only one farmer has been convicted in Mohali district in the past three years
While the state government machinery is busy fighting the Covid-19 outbreak, farmers in Mohali district have begun to burn wheat stubble. In the past five days, the district has witnessed 11 farm fires, for which one farmer has been challlaned.
Last year, 206 farm fires were reported of which 190 were verified. While 19 FIRs were registered, seven violators were sent to court for prosecution. Surprisingly, in the past three years, only one farmer has been convicted in Mohali district.
The cases have been registered under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which involves imprisonment for up to two years with a fine of ₹1,000. However, registering of FIRs for the offence, too, has failed to act as deterrent.
The 11 farm fires reported in the past five days were reported from five villages–Bishanpura, Hassanpura, Basouli, Jhawanse and Rampur Sainian in Dera Bassi block, and villages–Rurkikalan, Shekan Majrim Hoshairpur, Bathalana and Manakpur in Kharar block of the district.
Stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh has been an ongoing issue for the last several years. Last year on November 4, the Supreme Court had come down hard on the three states and asked their respective governments to check stubble burning, failing which the entire administrative and police hierarchy, ranging from the chief secretary to sarpanch and local policemen were to be held responsible for even a single farm fire.
Ashok Sharma, the executive engineer (XEN) of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), said that in the past five days 11 fire cases were reported and one challan of ₹2500 issued to a Dera Bassi farmer. “We are still verifying them, following which challans will be issued. All our nodal officers will be active from May 11 and this time we will not spare anyone,” he said.
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said directions have already been given to officers to file cases against violators. Even the revenue department has been asked to make red entries in the land records of guilty farmers. A red entry would bar the farmer from eligibility for any government facility or loan from any bank or institution, he said.
Severity of challans depends on the farm area. If stubble is burned on less than 2 acres, a challan of ₹2500 will be issued, a challan of ₹5000 will be issued for 2 to 5 acres and for above 5 acres, a challan of ₹15000 will be issued.
Seeking to tackle the issue of stubble burning by farmers in Punjab and Haryana, last year in December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched a pilot project to produce green coal with paddy straw in National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) and Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), Mohali.
According to NABI engineers, the coal produced at the centre will be supplied to thermal plants in Punjab at lesser cost. The plant with a production capacity of 150 kg per hour and one tonne per day has been set up on premises of NABI for research and development. NABI will be buying stubble from farmers in the vicinity at ₹1,500 per tonne and the cost of green coal produced will range from ₹6 to ₹7 per kg as compared to the actual cost of ₹8 to ₹10 per kg, depending upon the quality.
