Amritsar: Field fires damaging tree trunk along highways, link roads

Amritsar, June 11

Fire from the wheat fields lit by farmers to get rid of crop residue has caused damage to a large number of fully grown trees alongside link roads and highways in rural areas. A drive on any of the roads leading outside the city is enough to gauge the damage caused to the green cover.

A visit to Chabal from Sarai Amanat Khan revealed that the trunk of many a tree has been burnt by the fire. While these trees have lost a big portion of their trunk, and hence strength, they are vulnerable to fall when high-velocity wind blows.

Though burning of crop residue in fields is banned, a large number of farm fires are reported every year. This wheat harvesting season, as the district administration was busy with elections, the farmers had used fire to clear the fields without any fear of the law.

While farmers use fire in their fields, it often reaches the dry grass under the trees alongside the road. In most cases, burning of dry grass also sets the tree trunks on fire. With flames from the field fires getting to these trees twice a year, after paddy and wheat harvesting, most part of their trunks has turned into charcoal.

Sukhwinder Kaur, a resident, said, “The trees are dying slowly. Already a large number of trees have been cut to widen the roads. Thousands of trees on Chabal-Amritsar road were cut for laying the road. The ones left are being burnt with fire.” She said that farmers can at least ensure that fire from their fields does not cause any damage to trees.