SAS Nagar, October 3, 2024: In a bid to keep the district free from farm fire incidents, the top bosses of the administration DC and SSP paid joint visits to the farmers and villagers in Rurki Pukhta, Gharuan, Mamupur and Kurali area on Thursday to exhort them to keep use of crop residue management machinery as an alternative available to manage the stubble without burning.
 Interacting with the farmers, former panches and Sarpanches and Nambardars of adjoining villages at these villages Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain said that as per the strict directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, National Green Tribunal and Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining area, the government has set a zero tolerance to stubble burning this time. As the subsidised machinery to manage stubble is already available in bulk in the district we must avoid the burning of stubble rather than managing it mechanically. 
She said that the district has arranged a total of 40 balers and rakes which are double the last year's strength so we should have got maximum benefit from these if we want to dispose of the stubble out of the farm. Otherwise, we have a number of machines to mix the stubble in the soil under in-situ methods. She said that the district has a capacity of Two lakh MT of disposal of stubble among the industry against our production of 1.25 lakh MT. So we should tie up with these baler and rake operators to manage stubble through the agriculture department. 
She said that we have singled out 33 villages in the district where the monitoring will be kept closely. SSP Deepak Pareek while interacting with the farmers who have yet to start the harvesting appealed to them not to burn the stubble and to manage it by the use of machinery available in their proximity. He said that the police personnel have been asked to help the farmers arrange the machinery with the help of local civil authorities to thwart the farm fire incidents in their area. Apprising them of the stringent orders of the Supreme Court and NGT, he said that this time the violators would not be spared. 
Seeking their cooperation to curb the malpractice of setting the stubble on fire the SSP said that it is our collective responsibility to protect our environment from getting polluted due to the farm fire incidents that will be meaningful for our health and keep the flora and fauna safe from the flames of the fire. DC and SSP were accompanied by SDM Kharar Gurminder Singh and DSP Kharar-1 Karan Sandhu. 
Besides the field visits of DC and SSP, the other administrative officers of the district Additional Deputy Commissioner (D) Sonam Chaudhary, SDM Mohali Damandeep Kaur along with PCS under trainee Rupinder Pal Singh and Chief Agricultural Officer Dr Gurmail Singh reached out to the farmers in Bhagomajrq, Gidderpur, Bakarpur, Nandiali, Safipur, Landra and Saidpur.