Farm fires went unnoticed amid LS election hubbub

Faridkot, June 10

In the din of election and leaders’ litany of promises, the state government ‘preferred’ to turn a blind eye to the stubble burning incidents, post wheat harvesting this time.

As per the information of Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agriculture, there were total 11,900 crop residue burning incidents after the wheat harvesting in the state between April 20 and May 30.

In Faridkot district, total 324 active fire events were captured by the satellite till May 30. But there was no challan, fine or any criminal action against any ‘erring’ person.

After paddy harvesting in November 2023, the PRSC had reported 2,022 active fire incident in Faridkot and the district administration had taken punitive action against 81 ‘erring’ farmers. But this time, 324 alleged stubble burning incident had not got the attention of district administration in the hubbub of elections.

Vineet Kumar, Faridkot Deputy Commissioner, said as the police and civil administration were involved in election process, so there was no timely action in the stubble burning incidents this time. However, we are verifying the fire incidents on the basis of PRSC sent information to take necessary action against the erring persons, said the DC.

As May remained a very hot month this time, the stubble burning in the fields not only caused pollution but it caused massive loss to a large number of trees alongside the National and state highways in the area.

Jaswinder Singh, a SDO in Punjab Pollution Control Board in Faridkot, said the district administration has already been informed about the burning of many trees alongside the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway. We have requested the district administration to fix the responsibility to burn these trees and penalise the accused, he said.