SAS Nagar, November 2, 2024: In continuation of its commitment to combating the stubble burning incidents in the District Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, the Mohali Administration succeeded in bucking the trend the time with the help of district police and other stakeholder departments by witnessing a 68 per cent reduction as compared to the previous year. 
Deputy Commissioner Mrs Aashika Jain while reviewing the daily progress, said that this time the number of stubble burning incidents has been reported 36 till now while last year it was 113 by this day. The continuous and concerted efforts of all the departments have resulted in a sizeable decrease in the incidents by monitoring the field and sensitising the farmers to the ill effects of farm fires. The district has found 12 sites under stubble burning upon physical verification of 36 cases reported by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PSRC). The 24 sites where no signs of fire were observed would be reported to the state for removing them out of the PSRC data. 
An environmental compensation of Rs 12,500 has been imposed and recovered. Besides, the data prepared has shown that the farm machinery has made significant access among the farmers this time and so far about 67 per cent of crop area under paddy has been harvested against the total 35000 Hectares, out of which 8575 hectares have used ex-situ CRM Machinery while 12390 hectares handles stubble by use of in-situ CRM Machinery. 
She said that the ex-situ technique is used to manage the stubble by collecting the stubble as bales while in-situ to mix it with the soil by the use of machinery. Similarly, to fix the responsibility of the field staff failing to take timely action to curb fire incidents, notices under section 14 of the CAQM (Commission on Air Quality Management) Act have been issued besides filing a case before the judicial magistrate against an erring person. 
She said that to prevent fire incidents in the district, sub-division level helpline numbers have been launched to maximise the reach of farmers to the CRM Machinery. In the Kharar subdivision, one can dial 98883-06474, 88472-05441 95010-09150 while in Derabassi, helpline numbers 70095-66834, 99154-38091, 94635-56415 can be contacted for assistance in getting CRM Machinery besides 78889-77511, 96467-55655, 96532-88889 can be contacted in Mohali Sub Division. 
Senior Superintendent of Police, Deepak Pareek added that the district police personnel have been working in tandem with Civil Administration to curb the farm fire incidents. Two SPs, 10 Dy SPs and 20 SHOs along with a dedicated force have been deployed to remain active during the harvesting season in the field to stop farm fires and sensitise the farmers.