Fire destroys standing wheat crop on 15 acres

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 17

Standing wheat crop on around 15 acres was gutted in a fire that broke out in fields in the Kothe Amarpura area on Tuesday afternoon. Stubble on three acres was also burnt to ashes.

After receiving the information, three fire tenders, headed by sub-fire officer Makhan Ram, reached the spot. With the help of locals, fire officials control the fire in two hours.

Malkit Singh, councillor from Ward No. 2, said it was a major fire incident in which wheat crop was gutted.

Farmers Amandeep Singh, Labh Singh, Lakhvir Singh, Gursewak Singh, Sant Singh and others suffered a huge loss in the fire incident.

Locals said around 1 pm, they noticed flames in fields and within no time, people started gathering. Before the arrival of fire tenders, they started pouring in water to control the fire.

Fire officer Jaswinder Singh said it took them around two hours to control the fire. He said farmers’ machines and animals were safe. Jaswinder stated that the reason behind the fire was not clear yet as initially their priority was to control the fire.

Residents were irked with district administration officials as they said no one from the administration reached the spot. Farmers whose standing crop was gutted were in a state of shock, they said.

Councillor Malkit Singh said farmers were already reeling under a financial crisis and the incident would further add to their woes.

He demanded compensation for the affected farmers from the district administration and state government.