18 farm fires reported across Punjab

Eighteen cases of farm fire were reported across the state with the highest number of paddy residue burning reported in Amritsar (five), followed by Sangrur (four), Mansa (three) and Tarn Taran (two).

One case each was reported in Bathinda, Malerkotla, Faridkot and Ferozepur.

Amritsar has become the first district to report over 100 farm fire incidents. The holy city has reported 101 incidents of paddy residue burning so far.

There were reports of setting the paddy residue on fire during the evening at Bhattian village in Ludhiana, but the incident was not mentioned in the farm fire report.

An agriculture expert said due to slow procurement of paddy much of the crop was yet to be harvested and the number of farm fires would witness a sudden spike around panchayat elections when the enforcement agencies would be busy maintaining law and order.

A total of 214incidents were recorded this year, compared to 877 during the last year.