‘Red entries’ made in records of 418 farmers for burning stubble
In a major crackdown on farmers involved in stubble burning, the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department has marked ‘red entries’ in the records of Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal of 418 farmers in Haryana, who violated crop residue regulations. The red entries have been initiated by the state government to bar such farmers from selling their produce in the state’s grain markets for two seasons.
“We have made red entries on the records of 418 farmers for violating norms,” said Jagminder Singh Nain, Joint Director of the department, which also registered 192 FIRs against farmers, while challans worth Rs 8.45 lakh have been imposed.
Among other districts, Ambala has imposed a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh on 46 farmers; Fatehabad Rs 55,000 on 22 farmers, Hisar Rs 22,500 on nine farmers; Jind Rs 95,000 on 39 farmers; Kaithal Rs 1.60 lakh on 63 farmers; Karnal Rs 1.12 lakh on 41 farmers; Kurukshetra Rs 1.5 lakh on 60 farmers; Panchkula Rs 12,500 on five farmers; Panipat Rs 20,000 on eight farmers; Sirsa Rs 12,500 on five farmers; and Yamunanagar Rs 25,000 on 10 farmers.
Disciplinary action has also been taken against government employees who had been assigned the duty to curb stubble burning cases, but failed. “Twenty-six employees have been suspended. Permission has been sought for prosecution against 19 employees of Agriculture, Panchayati Raj and Police Departments of Kurukshetra district,” said Nain.
As per satellite report, the state has recorded 726 active fire locations (AFLs), of which 13 were located on Monday. With 137 cases, Kaithal is leading the state, followed by Kurukshetra (109), Ambala (77), Karnal (75), Jind (53), Fatehabad (43), Sonepat (41), Faridbad (35), Yamunanaagr (30), Palwal (29), Panipat (29), Sirsa (20), Hisar (20), Panchkula (14), Rohtak (11), and Jhajjar (3).
The Karnal Agriculture Department has made red entries in the records of 91 farmers and registered FIRs against 26 farmers, said Dr Wazir Singh, Deputy Director (Agriculture).
The Kaithal administration has also taken stringent steps. “Red entries have been made in the records of 88 farmers of Kaithal district. As many as 24 FIRs have been registered and 21 farmers have been arrested,” said Kaithal Deputy Commissioner Vivek Bharti.
