27 farm fires reported in dist till now, violators go scot-free as authorities ‘look other way’

In what appears to be a case of turning blind eye or giving a free hand to the violators, no action has been taken against those responsible for 27 farm fires reported in the district during the current kharif (paddy harvesting) season so far. Even as the stubble burning incidents are the lowest so far, the district administration is yet to act in the cases recorded till date.

With no case of farm fire reported in the district during the past three days, as many as 27 stubble burning cases were recorded till Monday. This was almost one-fourth of 100 fire events spotted in the district during the corresponding period in 2022 and a bit less than the 37 farm fires recorded here till October 21 in 2023.

Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal and Additional Deputy Commissioner (Rural Development) Harjinder Singh Bedi were not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

According to the district-wise action taken report (ATR) compiled by the state government, a copy of which is with The Tribune, no environmental compensation was imposed, no red entry made in the revenue records and no FIR was registered in any of the total 27 cases of stubble burning reported in the district till Monday. The experts, however, said the incidents of farm fires were yet to pick up in the district as the paddy harvesting has not yet picked up pace here.

The Agriculture Department said that less than 20 per cent of the total 2.57 lakh hectares of paddy area had been harvested with more than 80 per cent, which accounted for over 2.05 lakh hectares, was still to be harvested in Ludhiana.

Meanwhile, the district administration has identified as many as 30 hotspots of stubble burning across five blocks in Ludhiana district this season. The hotspots have been marked on the basis of farm fire incidents reported during the past year and the number of crop residue management machineries available at the identified locations in Ludhiana, the state’s biggest and largest district in terms of area and population.

With 2.57 lakh hectares, which is equivalent to 6.35 lakh acres, under paddy cultivation, the maximum in the state, Ludhiana district will generate 16.53 lakh tonnes of paddy straw at the rate of 6.43 tonnes per hectare. As many as 8,223 machines of 13 different types had been made available to manage stubble in 969 villages spread across 11 blocks in the district.