Straw burning continues unabated

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 17

As many as 157 cases of stubble burning have been reported in Patiala, and their numbers are increasing with each passing day. Despite numerous warnings by the administration to take strict action against the farmers engaged in stubble burning, the firing incidents continue unabated.

On October 16, Patiala witnessed 13 fire incidents as per the data from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, which keeps a tab on active fire incidents. Patiala is second in terms of farm fires incidents in the Malwa belt. 

Information gathered from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and Agriculture Department officials confirmed that farm fires were fast spreading in the Malwa belt and would further affect the air quality of Punjab. “Farmers are now resorting to stubble-burning as they have little window before preparing the fields for the next crop,” they said.

Since October 15, stubble-burning has been on the rise in the Malwa region. Satellite data revealed that the district witnessed 37 stubble burning cases on October 15, while it saw 13 cases on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit on Thursday held a meeting and instructed patwaris to report all farm fire incidents to the control room. “Last year, only 30 per cent of such incidents were reported.

With the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak, tourists from across the world will be visiting Punjab”, he said. 

As per information collected by The Tribune, over 1.60 lakh farm fire incidents have been reported in the previous two seasons of (2017-2018) and only a few farmers were fined.

In 2017, during the wheat harvesting season 15,378 cases were recorded and fine of Rs 61 lakh was imposed, but only Rs 18 lakh was deposited. 

Similarly, in 2018 wheat season 11,095 cases of farm fires were recorded and Rs 30.02 lakh as fine was imposed but the erring farmers deposited only Rs 2.05 lakh.