14 Moga officials get show-cause notices

Taking a serious view of the alleged leniency showed by some district-level officers in checking stubble burning, the Moga Deputy Commissioner today issued show-cause notices to two SDMs, a BDPO and two SHOs besides many nodal officers. A criminal complaint has been filed against a nodal officer.

Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal has served notices on Moga SDM Sarangpreet Singh Aujla, Baghapurana SDM Beant Singh Sidhu, Nihal Singh Wala BDPO Rupinder Kaur, Baghapurana SHO Jaswarinder Singh, Dharamkot SHO Jitinder Singh, cluster officers Sukhwinder Singh and Manmohan Singh and nodal officers Prabhadeep Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Sanjeevan Kumar, Pargatjit Singh, Balwinder Singh, Davinder Singh and Jagsir Singh. The notices were issued after farm fire incidents were reported from their areas, said the DC.

A criminal case was filed in the court of Moga CJM under Section 14(1) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital and Adjoining Areas Act against a nodal officer, Pargatjit Singh of Kishanpura Kalan village of Dharamkot subdivision, said the DC. The offence is punishable with imprisonment for five years, a fine of Rs 1 crore or both.

The DC said the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre at Ludhiana had spotted 105 fire incidents in the district. An investigation found that 87 cases were of farm fire. He said FIRs had been registered against 61 persons in this regard and red entries were made in their revenue records. Apart from this, a fine of Rs 1.72 lakh was imposed on farmers violating the ban on stubble burning.

The DC said apart from teams formed to prevent farm fires in the district, he and SSP Ajay Gandhi were also going to villages to check such incidents.

He said during the paddy season, 146 nodal officers were appointed for villages in the district to prevent incidents of farm fire, hold awareness campaign and take action against violators. They worked under the supervision of 23 cluster officers, the DC added.