Farmer-govt faceoff on cards over ‘red entries’ for stubble burning in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna/Aman Sood

A faceoff between the farmers and the government is on the cards as several deputy commissioners, including those posted at Patiala, Sangrur and Ferozepur, have warned the farmers against stubble burning, failing which their revenue record entries will be marked red. Several farm unions have come out in protest against the move.

A “red entry” in revenue records signifies that the title of the land is “not clear”, which makes is difficult for the farmers to sell that land or avail bank loan against it.

Sangrur DC Sandeep Rishi had told The Tribune on Saturday that the district administration would not spare anyone burning paddy straw in the fields. “Besides the registration of FIRs, red entries will also be made in the revenue records of the erring farmers. The SHOs of the police stations will be responsible for the registration of FIRs in such cases,” he had said.

Today, members of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) and the Kirti Kisan Union led protests outside the offices of 15 DCs in the state.

BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said it was time the government acted against individuals duping farmers by selling spurious DAP. “We also want to warn the government that they will have to face the farmers’ wrath in case they start making red entries,” he said.

“This is not the right approach and it will surely backfire. We will never let this happen,” said Prem Singh Bhangu, president of the All India Kisan Federation.

Leaders of the Kirti Kisan Union said though they were against paddy stubble burning, they would not condone revenue records being marked red, or the denial of arms licences to errant farmers.

Officials in various districts have reportedly got orders from the state headquarters to take punitive action against the defaulting farmers by making red entries in their revenue records. Top functionaries in the government have, however, gone silent on the issue now. The Tribune’s attempts to seek comments on the matter from Agriculture Department officials failed to bear results.

The story is same every year: Before the paddy harvest, the government issues the order reagrding red entries, but instances of such an action are minimal in comparison to the number of farm fires. In 2023, 36,623 farm fires were reported, but red entries were made only in the records of 340 farmers.

Jagmohan Singh Patiala, general secretary of the BKU (Dakaunda), said, “We will oppose any attempt to make red entries in revenue records of farmers. Is this our reward for filling the granaries of India and making the country a food-surplus state?”

On Sunday, Patiala Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional District Magistrate Kanchan (now transferred) had ordered that anyone applying for a new arms licence or the renewal of an existing one “will get a nod” only after the land records have been verified.

Supreme court seeks report

On Tuesday the Supreme Court had sought a report from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on the steps initiated to prevent farm fires and also the action taken against officers for allowing such incidents, despite earlier orders to check such cases

Farm fire cases on the rise

• Twelve farm fires were noticed by the remote sensing centre in the state on Wednesday with Amritsar topping the chart with three incidents, followed by SAS Nagar (two).
• With this, the total number of farm fires since September 15 has gone up to 93; there were no active fire events in the state on the same day in 2022 and 2023

Good news

• Amid the farmer unrest, the good news is that the Reserve Bank of India has sanctioned the first tranche of cash credit limit of ~41,339.81 crore
• The state had sought a CCL of ~48,380 crore to buy 185 LMT of paddy; the remaining CCL will be released later, confirmed Vikas Garg, Secretary Food and supplies