Stubble burning: 53 FIRs fail to deter Faridkot farmers

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, November 20

The police’s move of filing FIRs to check stubble burning in this area is proving to be a futile exercise in absence of any plausible deterrent effect. In the last four days, the Faridkot police have registered as many as 53 FIRs under Section 188 of the CrPC (violating prohibitory orders) for setting their paddy stubble on fire in their fields.

In the beginning, the police were filing FIRs, but without naming any accused. But after being prodded by the DGP, the police have now started naming the farmers in the FIRs for stubble burning.

Among the 41 farmers named by the Faridkot police, only three have been arrested so far, but they were granted bail immediately after showing their arrests on papers.

Though Faridkot SSP Harjeet Singh claimed that the police would take all these cases to a logical conclusion in the court to create good deterrence, the police at the ground level did not show matching enthusiasm.

“In the next one week after the harvesting of paddy and basmati is completed and stubble burning ends, all these criminal cases will be put on the back burner as it is being done in the case of challans, fines and red entries in the revenue record of the defaulting farmers in the last five years,” a senior civil officer, preferring anonymity, said.

In Faridkot district, about 1,750 stubble burning incidents have been reported by the district administration. Over 300 farmers have been challaned so far, but there is no abate in the farm fire incidents, proving that all these efforts were having no deterrent effect at the ground level, the officer said.