- Second District in the state with least farm fire incidents
- 46 Percent less area reported this year
- DC Randhawa Appeals to Farmers not to burn Crop Residue
- District Provides 1884 Crop Residue Management Machines on Subsidised rates
Nawanshahr: District Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar has shown remarkable improvement in reduction in farm fire cases in this season, said deputy commissioner Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa. So far, the district stands at number two in the tally of least farm fires after Pathankot.
After attending the virtual meeting of Commission for Air Quality Management, New Delhi, Randhawa said that the District has recorded a sizable decrease in the farm fire cases as compared to previous season of paddy harvesting. During the ongoing season, as many as 4630 hectares of crop area has been reported by the Punjab Remote Sensing Center by October 31 while previous year the area under the crop residue fire was assessed at 8540 hectare. He said as many as 127 cases of burn of crop residue have been reported by Satellite imaging as compared to total number 356 of previous year.
Deputy Commissioner further said that the district has an inventory of 1884 crop residue management machinery including 313 of this season. We have total 36 balers in our district as compared to last year’s 17, said Randhawa by adding that addition of crop residue management machinery is also a positive aspect for us. He said though we are trying to sensitise the farmers through various means for not setting stubble on fire and we hope the farmers would refrain from burning crop residues.
NPS Randhawa added that Namberdars and Sarpanches have been asked to sensitise the farmers to not to burn the paddy stubble in larger interests of humanity besides not to deprive them of the benefits and renewal of the mandatory licenses such as Arms/Passport/Driving.
He said that the next few days are very crucial for us in curbing farm fires as we have harvested about 90 percent of the area under paddy. Making an appeal to the farmers, he sought their cooperation to make the district as an example with less farm fires this year and farm fire free district by next year. He said that district