Punjab initiates criminal proceedings against 9 officials over farm fires

The Punjab Government has initiated criminal proceedings against at least nine officials of three districts for failing to check farm fires in their areas of jurisdiction even as 216 fresh incidents of stubble burning on Sunday took the total count across the state this season beyond the 4,000 mark.

According to information, the prosecution process against the nine officials had been started under Section 14(2) of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act, 2021.

An official said a criminal complaint had been filed against the nodal officer of Kishanpura Kalan village in Dharamkot sub-division of Moga district while three officials had been chargesheeted in Tarn Taran. In Ferozepur, action had been initiated against an agriculture extension officer, a junior engineer of the Drainage Department and three panchayat secretaries, said the official.

Offences under Section 14(2) of the CAQM Act are non-cognizable and triable by a judicial magistrate (first class). The punishment entails a penalty of up to Rs 1 crore and imprisonment for five years, or both.

Besides, Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma has issued notices to at least 102 officials from the soil conversation, rural development and cooperation departments for failing to check stubble burning.

Deepshikha said due to stringent measures and multipronged strategies adopted this year, a 58 per cent decline had been witnessed in farm fires compared to last year.

Ferozepur SSP Saumya Mishra said the police too had launched a crackdown against violators. She said 296 FIRs had been registered against erring farmers, 121 of these over the last four days alone.

Moga Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal on Sunday issued show-cause notices to two SDMs, two SHOs and a BDPO, among others. Sarangal said 105 cases had been registered by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre at Ludhiana over farm fire incidents. Apart from this, a fine of Rs 1.72 lakh had been slapped on erring farmers, he said.

From September 15 to November 3, Punjab has seen a total of 4,132 fire events, according to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. The state reported 1,779 farm fire cases in the last five days.

Punjab saw 219 such incidents on October 29, 110 on October 30, 484 on October 31, 587 on November 1 and 379 on November 2, the data showed.

Of 216 fresh cases reported on Sunday, Sangrur saw 59 stubble-burning incidents, which is the maximum in the state.

Among other districts, Ferozepur reported 26 cases of stubble burning, Moga and Mansa 19 each, and Tarn Taran 18.