District Administration gets tough & registers 45 FIRs & arrests 22 farmers burning paddy straw in Ludhiana District

Ludhiana, November 5, 2019: The District Administration Ludhiana has gotten tough against the farmers burning paddy straw in their fields and a total of 45 FIR’s were registered against such farmers and 22 farmers were arrested today.
While providing further information, Deputy Commissioner Mr Pradeep Kumar Agrawal stated that besides FIR’s, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has filed 34 challans directly in the court, 13 combines have been challaned Rs 2 lakh each as Super SMS was not fitted on them, 243 cases with around Rs 8 lakh compensation have been filed by PPCB, red entries in khasra girdawri’s are made, and 77 cluster teams have been formed to check cases of stubble burning in the district.
Accompanied by Commissioner of Police Mr Rakesh Kumar Agrawal, Senior police and district administration officials, SDM (East) Mr Amarjit Singh Bains, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Baldev Singh, PPCB officials and others, the Deputy Commissioner today visited various villages namely Khasi Kalan, Hawas, Sahibana, Rajool, besides several others of district Ludhiana.
While warning the farmers to not indulge in burning of paddy straw in their fields, he said that 77 cluster teams have been formed that are keeping a close tab on the cases related to burning of paddy straw. He informed that all SDMs and DSPs/ACPs and other police and civil administration officials have been deputed for this duty and strict action, including FIR and fine would be imposed on any farmer burning paddy straw.
He urged the Sarpanches to ensure that no incidents related to burning of paddy straw take place in their villages. He said that even the Supreme Court of India has ordered that accountability of the village sarpanch can also be fixed if he/she fails to prevent such fire incidents.
Mr Agrawal urged the farmers of the district to act responsibly and not indulge in burning of paddy straw in larger interest of the people. He said that under the Mission Tandrust Punjab of the Punjab government and in a bid to save our environment, the state government is providing subsidy to farmers on farm machinery for in-situ management of paddy straw. This subsidy is being provided for purchasing Super SMS to be fitted on combine harvesters, happy seeder, zero till drill, paddy straw chopper, paddy straw multure, reversible hydraulic MB plough etc. He urged the farmers to take full advantage of this initiative of the Punjab government.
Mr Pradeep Kumar Agrawal said that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had also launched a mobile app named i-khet last year, and till date thousands of farmers have availed its benefit. He stated that this app has been developed by Punjab Remote Sensing Centre and includes information of all those machines of district Ludhiana that are used for paddy straw management. This mobile application can be downloaded on android based phones from play store and is providing information on district, block and village level in both English and Punjabi languages.
Mr Agrawal informed that this mobile app has been developed for facilitating farmers to have access to the agriculture machinery/equipment for in-situ management of crop residue. Noting that such burning causes irreversible damage to the texture of soil, natural environment and human health, the Deputy Commissioner asked all the concerned departments to intensify the campaign to educate farmers about the menace.
He further said that the farmers can search information about nearest agri machines including location, owner name and contact number, besides others. He said that on contacting such owners, this machine can be further put to use by the farmers. He informed that in district Ludhiana, details of around 3000 such machines associated with Agriculture Department and Cooperation Department and other machines are also added in this app.
HELPLINE NUMBERS ISSUED:
The Deputy Commissioner stated that if any person wants to intimate the district administration about any incident of paddy straw burning, they can contact at helpline number 0161-2404502. This helpline number would remain operational 24X7.
He further said that if any farmer has any problem related to procuring machinery for in-situ management of paddy straw, they can contact District Agriculture Officer Dr Baldev Singh at 98886-74820.
Mr Agrawal stated that the fire brigade can also be contacted to douse such fires.

DISTRICT LEVEL AWARENESS CAMP FOR PADDY RESIDUE MANAGEMENT BY KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRA, ROPAR
Ludhiana: Realising the gravity of problem of the paddy straw burning, KrishiVigyan Kendra, Ropar under the guidance of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and support from CRM project “Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-situ Management of Crop Residue in Punjab”, conducted a district level awareness camp on 5.11.2019 at village Bela, District Ropar, under the supervision of Dr. G. S. Makkar, Deputy Director (Trg.), KVK, Ropar. Dr. G. S. Makkar apprised the farmers of the latest residue management programmes and the schemes of KVK. Mrs. Parneet Kaur, B.D.P.O. Chamkaur Sahib, Ropar was Chief Guest of the event and she appreciated the university’s efforts to provide free paddy residue managing machinery like Happy seeder, Zero till drill, Mulcher and MB plough for community usage. Sh. Amardeep Singh, B.D.P.O., Morinda, Ropar was the Guest of Honour and he encouraged farmers to adopt latest residue management machinery for conserving our fragile eco-system. Dr. S.S. Thakur, Sr. Engineer from PAU guided farmers regarding the working of straw managing machinery. Impressive exhibitions by KVK Ropar, Department of Dairy Development, Fisheries, Self help groups and Entrepreneurs attracted farmer masses. Sale of PAU seed & vegetable seeds, PAU literature were the few other major attractions in the event.