6 more farmers booked for burning crop residue in Amritsar district

Amritsar, November 16

The police have booked six farmers in the district for violating the ban on burning crop residue imposed by the government. With this, the total number of FIRs registered against farmers for burning crop residue has increased to 19.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre reported seven farm fire incidents in the district on Thursday. The district has reported a total of 1,524 farm fire incidents during the ongoing paddy harvesting season.

Officials of the district administration stated that a total of 21 criminal cases had been filed in court under the Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act. The administration has also imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 24,32,500 on farmers for causing pollution by burning crop residue.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshayam Thori said the government has sounded a red alert in the state in view of the increasing pollution. He said every station house officer (SHO) had been directed to visit each incident reported by the PRSC and take action.

The Deputy Commissioner stated that the Revenue Department had also been instructed to mark red entries in the revenue records of the farmers who are burning crop residue. “A total of 210 red entries have been marked in the land records of the farmers so far,” he said.

The district administration has warned farmers against burning crop residue stating that legal action would be taken in each and every incident of burning. The officials said the process to recover the penalty imposed on the violators had also been initiated.

Four booked in Tarn Taran

Four farmers were booked by Sarhali police for a farm fire incident on Wednesday when Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar made a surprise check in the area. Two of the farmers were arrested while the other two are absconding. The police said that the booked farmers were involved in the farm fire incident. They have been identified as Sarhali residents Gurjant Singh, Karnail Singh, Manjinder Singh and Balwant Singh, a resident of Chaudhriwala village. Gurjant Singh and Balwinder Singh have been arrested.