7 incidents of stubble burning surface in Jalandhar district

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, April 5

Wheat harvesting has not even properly begun in the district yet, and cases of stubble burning have already started coming to the fore. Although, the agriculture department has observed the cases through satellite. Seven cases have been reported in the district. The blocks from where cases were reported are Adampur, Jalandhar West, Jalandhar East, Nurmehal and Bhogpur.

Managing stubble burning is a huge challenge for the department officials. Instead of a decrease in the cases of stubble burning, a rise is witnessed each year. Last year, over 500 cases were registered, in 2022 around 555, while only 33 cases were reported from the district in 2021. Within two years, there has been a drastic rise in the number of cases. Earlier, the government was only concerned about paddy residue burning, but now, wheat stubble burning is also troubling the authorities concerned.

The farmers of Bajra village in Kartarpur tehsil also used to burn stubble, but no case of burning stubble has been registered here for the last five years. Agriculture Department officials also confirmed that no case of stubble burning had been reported from the village for several years. Sarpanch Avinash Kumar had earlier shared: “I am very strict when it comes to burning stubble. If someone tries to burn their agricultural residue, I inform the department and the police. With time, however, the farmers have now accepted the fact that burning stubble is a crime.” He said the aim of this was to protect the environment.

To tackle the problem, the Agriculture Department has taken the initiative of sharing videos of farmers who have refrained from burning stubble for the several years on social media platforms.

Along with the videos, contact information of these farmers was also shared so that those who wished to adopt alternative methods of managing stubble could discuss them with the farmers who were already following them. The Agriculture Department also uploaded videos on YouTube channel: ‘Safal Kisan’.