Punjab sees 39 stubble burning incidents in 8 days; 14 FIRs lodged

Punjab saw 39 crop residue burning incidents in the past eight days during which 14 FIRs were registered against the erring farmers, officials said on Monday. Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi after the harvesting of paddy in October and November. As the window for the Rabi crop -- wheat -- is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue for sowing of the next crop. According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) data, the state witnessed 39 stubble burning incidents from September 15 till September 22. Amritsar topped the list with 21 farm fire incidents, followed by seven in Tarn Taran, five in Patiala and one each in Barnala, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Mohali and Malerkotla, according to PPCB data. The data also showed that 14 FIRs, including 13 in Amritsar, have been registered against the farm fires under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to disobedience of order duly promulgated by a public servant. The Supreme Court on September 17 asked the Punjab government why some errant farmers should not be arrested for indulging in stubble burning, a key contributor to air pollution, to send across a stern message. The bench was hearing a suo-motu plea relating to filling up vacancies in the state pollution control boards of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. A fine of Rs 1.25 lakh in the shape of environment compensation has been imposed on the farmers who set their crop residues on fire, of which Rs 50,000 has been recovered, according to the PPCB. The state authorities have also marked 15 red entries in the land records of the erring farmers, which bar them from getting loans against their land or selling the same. Recording of farm fire incidents started on September 15 and will continue till November 30. Punjab saw 10,909 farm fires in 2024 as compared to 36,663 in 2023, registering a 70 per cent decrease in such incidents. The state recorded 49,922 fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, with many districts, including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar, witnessing a large number of stubble burning incidents.