Farm fires drop sharply in Jalandhar; just 13 cases in 2025 vs 275 in 2021

Coming as an encouraging response, the district has witnessed 13 farm fire cases against 275 such incidents reported by this time in 2021.

As per data available with the district administration, there has bee a fall in the number of stubble burning cases over the past few years with only 77 cases reported in 2023, 22 in 2024 and 13 reported between September 15 and October 26 this year.

The district administration had appointed cluster officers to keep a tab on such cases, imposing environmental compensation, carrying out awareness activities, providing assistance for crop residue management and so on.

Several measures have been taken by the administration to curtail the practice, including management of over 1.6 lakh tonne of paddy straw this year using ex-situ management techniques at boilers.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Jaswinder Singh said 11,71,500 hectare land was placed under paddy cultivation this year. The authorities have issued about eight challans so far under which environmental compensation worth Rs 40,000 has also been imposed on violators, besides making red entry in the revenue records.

The district administration has delivered over 7,000 such equipment at subsidised rates in Jalandhar. A series of awareness campaigns were carried out in the hotspot areas with focus on sensitising farmers against the menace. Over 113 awareness camps were held in the district.

Appreciating farmers for their contribution in fighting the menace of stubble burning, Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal said more efforts would be made across the district to further reduce such incidents.

Meanwhile, he also appealed to the peasantry to not to resort to the stubble burning practices as the smog from the fire can aggravate problems for the asthma patients.