JALANDHAR In a bid to further curtail the stubble burning cases in Jalandhar, Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal on Thursday deputed Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) in Shahkot, Phillaur, and Nakodar sub-divisions where maximum stubble burning cases are being reported for past few days.
He directed the officers to adopt zero tolerance in cases and impose penalties besides ensuring red entry in revenue records of violators.
After participating in a virtual conference presided over by the Commission for Air Quality Management, the Deputy Commissioner said that ADC (G) Amit Mahajan will oversee Shahkot, ADC (UD) Jasbir Singh check Phillaur and Nakodar sub-division would be inspected by ADC (D) Varinder Pal Singh Bajwa.
He said that officers were needed to curb the practice by carrying out extensive field visits into their areas. He directed the officials to ensure that red entry was made in all instances, where stubble burning was verified by the clusters/nodal officers besides imposition of the environmental compensation. He said that as nearly 70 percent of harvest season is completed, the officers need to make sincere efforts for the next 10 days so that the cases do not rise and remain 50 percent lower than the previous year.
The Deputy Commissioner also asked officials to keep a close tab on the farm fire incidents by ensuring physical verification in each case. He also said that SDMs must give special attention to the areas that were reporting maximum cases in their areas. He said that daily monitoring of farm fire incidents was being ensured through an elaborate mechanism and awareness activities were being undertaken by the various departments including agriculture, cooperative, rural development & panchayat department, education, PPCB, and others.
However, Sarangal also appealed the peasantry to not to resort to the stubble-burning practice as it poses a great danger to the environment and must be avoided at every cost. He said that 600 wall paintings were already made by the agriculture department besides 120 camps were also held by the agriculture department in this drive. He told the paddy stubble was useful for the farmers and should not be burnt at any cost.