Burning issue: ‘Red entries’ down, penal action up against offenders

It's the same story every year around this time. Farmers set their farms on fire after paddy harvesting, leading to major air pollution not only in Punjab, but throughout the entire northern region. The NCR remains worst affected during the winters.

An action taken report (ATR) compiled by the state government has revealed that “red entries” in revenue records of farmers caught burning stubble in the state went down by almost 72 per cent in 2023. However, the penal action, including filing of cases under Section 39 of the Air Act, and FIRs under Section 188, IPC, touched a record high. On Monday, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had claimed that Punjab had witnessed 52 per cent dip in farm fires over the past three years.

The ATR, a copy of which is with The Tribune, revealed that the cases in which environmental compensation was imposed registered an increase of 50 per cent in 2023 as compared to 2022, but these were less than the cases filed in 2021. However, the recovery of environmental compensation saw a record rise from mere Rs 10,000 in 2022 to a whopping Rs 1.89 crore in 2023. This was also 100 times more than the Rs 1.9 lakh recovered in 2021.

The cases of environmental compensation dipped from 10,244 in 2021 to 6,695 in 2022 and went up to 10,008 in 2023. The amount of environmental compensation imposed decreased from Rs 2,85,77,500 in 2021 to Rs 1,72,45,000 in 2022 and rose to Rs 2,57,90,000 in 2023.

According to the ATR, the farm fire incidents went down from 71,304 in 2021 to 49,922 in 2022 and 36,663 in 2021. The red entries saw a gradual decline from 8,562 in 2021 to 4,673 in 2022 and touched the three-year low to 2,437 in 2023.

While no case for violation of the Air Act was filed in 2021 and 2022, 44 cases were registered in 2023. Similarly, no FIR for violation of the stubble-burning ban order was registered in 2021, only five were lodged in 2022. However, last year, a record 1,144 FIRs were registered in the state. Besides, a single case under Sections 107/151 of the CrPC was filed in 2023 wherein a farmer was taken into preventive arrest. No such case was filed in 2021 and 2022.

155 farm fires recorded

• This year till Tuesday, 155 farm fires have been recorded in the state, with a maximum of 80 in Amritsar, followed by 20 in Tarn Taran, 11 each in Ferozepur and Kapurthala, eight in Gurdaspur, seven in Jalandhar, five each in Sangrur and Mohali, two in Ludhiana, and one each in Fatehgarh Sahib, Nawanshahr, Patiala, Ropar and Malerkotla.
• The government has imposed environmental compensation of ~1.5 lakh in 52 cases. Besides 30 red entries, five FIRs have also been registered against the farmers in the state till Tuesday evening.

26 fresh cases

Patiala: The state witnessed 26 farm fire incidents on Tuesday. Tarn Taran reported 11 such incidents, followed by Amritsar (five), Ferozepur (four), Jalandhar (two), Fazilka (one), Gurdaspur (one), Ludhiana (one) and Sangrur (one). The state had witnessed 123 and 43 incidents of stubble burning in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

8K officers on duty

Chandigarh: The government has appointed 8,045 nodal officers to maintain vigil in areas where farm fires are a common practice. Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said 79 SDMs, 108 tehsildars, 108 DSPs, 1,140 cluster officers and additional staff had been mobilised to check farm fire incidents.

Flying squads

New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management has deployed flying squads of the Central Pollution Control Board to monitor incidents of paddy stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. These will closely coordinate with the officials of the state governments. They will visit stubble-burning hotspots between October 1 and November 30.