FIR against Jalandhar farmer for stubble fire stirs up row

While the police said no arrest had been made, angst-ridden farmers' unions said action against farmers reeling under the impacts of the floods won't be tolerated.

A Lohian-based farmer, identified as Raj Kumar, was booked by the Jalandhar rural police for setting fire to paddy stubble at the Kang Khurd village at Lohian Khas. This is the first recorded FIR in the season this year for stubble burning. No other stubble fires have been reported in Jalandhar so far. This also marks the intensification of action against farmers after the SC's recent call for stricter measures in the state.

Senior officials said the farmer had set fire to the crop damaged by the recent floods. The FIR was registered at the Lohian police station under Section 223 of the Bharti Nyay Sanhita on September 24.

A fine of Rs 5,000 has also been levied on the farmer.

BKU Doaba said the union stood with the farmer and the issue would be taken up at the meeting of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha scheduled in Chandigarh tomorrow.

With the farmer against whom the case has been registered, is recorded as a kaashtkar (tiller, pursuing farming on a contract basis) in formal records, the monitoring comittee recorded that the farmer's 7 kanal 16 marla land at village Theh Kushalgarh in Kang Khurd, in Lohian Khas, was found to be ablaze on the night of September 21. A challan was filed immediately against him for the violation of the government's guidelines on stubble burning. The FIR was filed on basis of the challan filed by superintendent, BDPO office.

While the farmer was believed to have been arrested earlier today, officials of the rural police said only an FIR had been registered in the case and no arrest was made.

Manjit Singh Rai, president, Bharti Kisan Union Doaba, said, "We will not tolerate FIRs against farmers who have already lost crop and means of livelihood to floods. We strongly condemn such action and stand with the farmer.”

Chief Agricultural Officer, Jalandhar, Jaswinder Singh, said, "The farmer set fire to the crop which had been damaged by the recent floods. In this case, there was no necessity to do so. So far this is the only case of stubble fire reported from Jalandhar. We are regularly sensitising farmers about the ill effects of stubble burning and the harm on farmers' own fields."