No fine, Doaba sees spurt in straw fire

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 18

The Doaba region saw a sudden spurt in stubble burning cases after the state government announced that farmers would not be penalised for burning paddy straw.

While the figure stood at 75 two days ago, it has now jumped to 184. Of these, 104 stubble burning incidents have been reported in Jalandhar alone. There have been 43 cases in Kapurthala, 23 in Nawanshahr and 14 in Hoshiarpur.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board has been getting daily reports based on satellite imagery and verifying the same through spot visits. Senior environment engineer Sandeep Behl said, “There has been a sudden rise in the stubble burning cases in the Doaba region. We cannot let it go unnoticed as there have been orders from the National Green Tribunal to act against the farmers indulging in setting paddy straw on fire. We have already levied over Rs 1 lakh on the farmers as penalty and challans of Rs 60,000 too have been issued.”

Even the district administration has been making red entries in the girdawaris. “In Jalandhar-2 sub division, patwaris have made a red entry in records of 10 farmers. There has been a backlash from farmers against our harsh step, but we have to follow directions,” said Paramvir Singh, SDM, Jalandhar-2.