Officials who doused farm fires during break to be honoured

Deputy Commissioner Sona Thind has announced to honour officials who doused stubble fires by visiting 36 villages during the Diwali holidays and persuaded villagers to cooperate with the district administration and not burn paddy stubble.

The DC said a team of officials led by Fatehgarh Sahib SDM Arvind Gupta, Sirhind Block Development and Panchayat Officer Deep Shikha and other officials was formed to motivate the nodal officers and to keep a close watch on the stubble burning incidents during the holidays. She said the team visited several villages of Fatehgarh Sahib subdivision.

The SDM said they appealed to the farmers to cooperate in the district administration’s campaign launched to check environment pollution and instead of setting the straw on fire either plough it in fields or make bales out of it.

He said they briefed the farmers that rising environment pollution was a matter of concern for all. The farmers should take care of straw considering it as their responsibility. The SDM said the administration had also given agricultural machinery on subsidy to the farmers through the Department of Agriculture for proper management of stubble.

He said police cases were being registered against farmers who set stubble on fire and red entries were being made against their land records.