Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s home district Sangrur records maximum farm fires

Tribune News Service

Patiala/Sangrur, October 30

The incidents of stubble-burning continue to rise in the Punjab with as many as 1,761 cases reported today. The total tally of farm fires in the state has hit 13,873 this year.

Punjab has recorded around 10,000 incidents of stubble-burning in the past week.

“Cases are expected to increase in the next fortnight as the harvest season is getting over in many districts,” an official of the Agriculture Department said.

Mann’s eight-point plan to tackle menace

• CM Bhagwant Mann to personally review the efforts being taken in all the districts to check stubble-burning
• Mann claims to have distributed 30K machines for in-situ management of straw
• The Agri Dept disseminated CRM machine type and contact numbers of its owners village-wise to farmers in all villages
• Meetings being held by MLAs and senior officers in sensitive areas, announcements from gurudwara, meetings with sarpanches, farmer unions being held
• Extensive involvement of the Health and Edu Dept is being ensured in the campaigns against farm fires
• Ensuring encouragement and recognition of panchayats and farmers for not indulging paddy straw burning
• Officials asked to provide real-time data dissemination on daily burning cases
• Severe action against employees who pollute environment

1,042 till Oct 29 in sangrur
323 cases reported on sunday

On October 30, 2020, the state had recorded 2,799 farm fires. The number for the corresponding date was 1,373 in 2021. As a result of the rising farm fires, many cities in the state are facing smog-like conditions.

The air quality index (AQI) is deteriorating in the state with Patiala recording AQI of 177, Jalandhar (183), Amritsar (208), Khanna (170) and Ludhiana (280).

Sangrur again topped the chart of maximum farm fires in the state with 323 incidents reported today. It had reported 286 cases on Saturday.

Can’t afford machines

I am a marginal farmer. How can I spend lakhs to arrange the machinery to manage stubble? The state government is using farmers as a scapegoat. —Gurpreet Singh, Farmer, Bangawali village

Farmers compelled

Farmers also do not want to burn stubble, but they are being compelled to do it. If the govt wants to prevent farm fires, it must provide farmers with aid. —Amrik Singh, District president, BKU ugrahan

Teams visiting fields

Our teams are visiting every village of the district. We are trying our best to convince farmers not to resort to stubble-burning. —Jitendra Jorwal, Deputy Commissioner

Already recording the maximum number of stubble-burning cases in the state, the situation in Sangrur is likely to take turn for worse.

Many farmers in the district have started to burn stubble at large scale and said they would stage a protest against officials of the Agriculture Department if they came to check farm fires.

Farmers claim the Punjab Government had neither provided them with the required machinery nor financial aid.

“I am a small farmer. How could I spend lakhs to arrange the required machinery to manage stubble? The government is using farmers as a scapegoat,” said Gurpreet Singh, a farmer from Bangawali village.

On Saturday, Sangrur recorded 282 stubble-burning cases, while the incidents reported for the corresponding date last year was 258.

Till Saturday evening, as many as 1,042 cases of farm fires were reported in the district. The number for the corresponding date in 2020 in the district was 1,676.

Farmers from Changal village told The Tribune that they were compelled to burn stubble.

“Farmers also do not want to burn stubble, but they are being compelled to do it. If the Punjab Government wants to prevent stubble-burning, it must give required financial aid to farmers. We will not allow action against any farmer,” said Amrik Singh, district president, BKU Ugrahan.

After getting information from the satellite centre, officials of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) shared the details of the fields set on fire with the officials of various departments.

Warning farmers against stubble-burning after harvesting paddy, agriculture experts said it not just causes air pollution but it also adversely affects the soil health. The experts said if allowed to decompose in soil, crop residue can help in cutting expenditure on fertilisers.

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