Stubble fires erupt again
Tribune News Service
1,036 fires reported
As per active fire events captured through satellite on November 20, a total of 1,036 farm fire incidents were captured. On the same day last year, 253 incidents were reported. The total fire incidents between September 23 and November 20 in 2018 and 2019 were 50,829 and 52,003, respectively.
Patiala, November 20
Failure on part of the state government and its departments was evident after Punjab crossed the 2018 tally of farm fires with over 1,289 active incidents captured till Tuesday evening. While on the same day in 2018, the fire incidents reported were 685.
The total number of fire incidents for the period September 23 to November 19 in 2018 and 2019 were 50,576 and 50,967, respectively.
Following a lull for a few days, farm fires again crossed the 1,000-mark on a single day in Punjab with 1,289 incidents being reported from different parts of the state on Tuesday. According to government data, the number of stubble-burning cases had remained low in the past few days.
Experts suggested that after the Punjab Government suspended the payment of compensation to farmers for not burning paddy stubble after complaints that some ineligible people had received the amount, farmers again resorted to farm fires. The government has ordered reverification of the beneficiaries who have been paid Rs 2,500 per acre for not burning paddy straw and has also toughened the process to seek compensation. An amount of Rs 19 crore was released to 29,000 small and marginal farmers.
The rise in the incidents of farm fire also raises questions over the entire exercise of spending crores for providing subsidised machinery to help farmers manage paddy straw.
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