Farm fires: 32 FIRs registered in Sangrur, Barnala

Sangrur district on Thursday recorded the highest number of farm fire cases (135) in the state while Barnala witnessed 14 incidents.

The total number of stubble burning cases has reached 4,305 in Sangrur and 913 in Barnala district in this kharif season. Last year on the same day, Sangrur district witnessed 149 and Barnala 138 cases.

The police have also swung into action and registered 32 FIRs in Barnala and Sangrur districts. However, not even a single farmer was named in the FIRs.

Police claimed that as of now they have registered cases on information obtained from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre and they are busy controlling farm fires. Therefore, an investigation into the FIRs will be carried out later.

As per official figures, 22 FIRs have been lodged in Sangrur district and 10 in Barnala district in the last 48 hours. The cases were registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC.

Sangrur SSP Surendra Lamba said, “We have registered FIRs based on latitude and longitude. Farmers will be named in these FIRs after conducting investigation. Right now, we are focusing on controlling and dousing the fire and will investigate cases later.”

Barnala SSP Sandeep Kumar Malik, said, “As of now, cases have been registered against unidentified farmers and action will be taken against offenders after identifying them.”

Sangrur deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal and the Sangrur SSP visited agriculture fields where paddy straw was set on fire and led the teams to douse the fire. The district administration and police have formed multiple teams to control the fire and to motivate farmers to shun this practice.

Jorwal said, “The administration and police department are working round the clock to control the stubble burning. We are requesting farmers to adopt environment-friendly methods to manage paddy straw at their fields.”