Punjab logs 512 crop residue fires

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 22

Though the authorities are claiming to curb farm fires, data shows that stubble burning incidents fell below 100 during the corresponding period last year.

While a total of 512 farm fires were witnessed on Wednesday, 66 fires were reported on the same day last year. With fresh incidents, the count has reached 36,118. At 110, Moga district reported maximum number of farm fires.

No fire in 352 Patiala villages

• A decision of Patiala administration to collaborate with software engineers of Thapar University to develop a ‘chatbot’ to assist farmers has yielded positive results
• The district has reported 45 per cent decrease in straw burning incidents compared to the previous year
• The number of villages where stubble hasn’t been set on fire have increased from 237 to 352
• The number of villages where single incident has been reported have increased from 166 to 232

Besides Moga, Fazilka witnessed (95) incidents of stubble burning, Muktsar (41), Bathinda 40, Faridkot 39, Barnala 34, Ferozepur 34, Sangrur 31, Mansa 18, Ludhiana 17, Jalandhar 14, Patiala 11, Kapurthala and Tarn Taran eight each.

While four cases were reported in Amritsar, two cases each were reported in Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdaspur and SBS Nagar.

Special DGP Arpit Shukla had stated on Monday that in order to curtail farm fires, they had registered 1,084 FIRs against farmers and imposed a penalty of Rs 1.87 crore since November 8. Even red entries have been made in revenue records of 340 farmers.

On November 20, the National Green Tribunal had pulled up the Punjab Government for not being able to control farm fires and had asked why the situation was not improving.

Bathinda continues to remain the most polluted city with an average AQI of 327 followed by Jalandhar 231, Ludhiana 278, Patiala was 242 and Amritsar 230, Mandi Gobindgarh 318 and Khanna 260.

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#Agriculture #Environment #Farm Fires #Pollution #Stubble Burning