34 fire incidents in Sangrur district, farmers continue to burn stubble
Tribune News Service
Sangrur, October 10
Farmers continue to be defiant and are burning paddy stubble in the district. Till date 34 incidents of straw-burning have been detected, but the administration has failed to recover penalty from even a single farmer. Today farmers set fields on fire at Ghabdan village, located on the main Sangrur-Patiala road.
“We know that it is detrimental for environment, but we do not have any alternative as the government has failed to provide the required help to state farmers. Today we have set paddy straw in around four acres on fire and we will keep burning it as we do not have money to spent on its management without burning,” said Labh Singh, BKU (Ugrahan) leader from Khurana village.
In the district, sources informed that till date total 34 incidents of fire were noticed in fields. Out of the total, 28 were detected by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), while the remaining six were noticed by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). Both PRSC and PPCB have sent the report to the district administration for further necessary legal action against errant farmers for burning paddy straw.
In total, officers have imposed Rs 45,000 environmental compensation on farmers. But to date, district officers have failed to recover even a single penny of imposed compensation as farmers have announced to gherao them in all villages, if any officer dares to come to recover any penalty from them.
“Farmers of all villages are passing resolutions to burn straw and gherao officers,” Bikranjit Singh Longowal, district president of the BKU (Sidhupur), said.
Deputy Commissioner APS Virk, who met Chatha Nanhera villagers on Monday after farmers burnt paddy straw, said the administration would take action as per law.
“Officers, including me, have been trying to prevent farmers from burning straw by conducting meetings with them. I have started visiting villages and interacting with farmers. I am getting a positive response,” said the DC.
Villagers defiant
Farmers of Doomchheri village in Ropar have decided to defy the ban on stubble burning en masse in case the government fails to compensate them properly.
This comes amid protests by farmers in different parts of the state over the ban. At a meeting, 50 farmers from the village decided unanimously that they would burn stubble together immediately after harvesting the crop.
District president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) Harjit Singh Doomchheri who presided over the meeting said that if farmers use other means, they have to spend Rs 5,000 to remove the stubble. This amount is beyond the paying capacity of farmers, he said. Further, only 20 days were left for the sowing of the wheat crop and it was not possible to remove the stubble using other means, he added.
He said the government must help farmers monetarily and with new technology to overcome this problem. — TNS
