JALANDHAR
Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal on Saturday warned cluster and nodal officials of stern action even if a single case of stubble burning comes out in their areas besides making clear that there would be no holiday for them till the completion of paddy harvesting.
Presiding over an early morning meeting around 8.30 AM with nodal and cluster teams constituted to curb stubble burning, the Deputy Commissioner asked them to shift their focus to the areas where paddy harvesting will be carried out within a few days.
He said that till next week, no one from the teams will avail of holiday and ensure zero farm fire in their jurisdiction. He asked them to take field visits with SHOs and hold meetings with sarpanches and farmers of the villages where harvesting will take place.
Sarangal said that due to floods this year, the paddy sowing got delayed in affected areas including Shahkot, Lohian, and adjoining areas leading to further delay in harvesting.
He said that action would be taken against the responsible officials if a stubble-burning incident came to notice from these areas.
He said that the district administration had already appointed 189 nodal officers and 54 cluster co-ordinators in Jalandhar to control the menace and officers had to share daily action-taken reports through a mobile application called ATR (Action Taken Report) developed by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) after physical verification of stubble burning incidents.
Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included ADCs Jasbir Singh, Varinder Pal Singh Bajwa, Major Dr Amit Mahajan, and others.