Bathinda: Punjab reported 50 fresh stubble-burning cases on Wednesday, taking the seasonal tally to 454 and keeping the state ahead of all others in farm fires. The rise prompted further enforcement, with 39 FIRs registered, land records updated in 106 cases and notices issued to 152 nodal and supervisory officers.Punjab’s tally is higher than Madhya Pradesh’s 393 cases, Rajasthan’s 229, Uttar Pradesh’s 190, Uttarakhand’s 72, Haryana’s 11 and Delhi’s one. The seven states together reported 1,350 cases till Oct 21, including 85 fresh incidents on Wednesday.Border districts Tarn Taran and Amritsar remained the biggest hotspots, with 218 and 125 cases, respectively — the highest district-wise counts across the seven states. The trend continued despite a high-level team from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) visiting Punjab and directing officials to make all-out efforts to curb farm fires.Of the 39 FIRs registered under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for disobedience of an order issued by a public servant, 25 were in Tarn Taran, five in Amritsar, three in Jalandhar, two in Gurdaspur, and one each in Fazilka, Ferozepur, Sangrur and Patiala.Environmental compensation of Rs 7.20 lakh was imposed in 142 cases, of which Rs 3.40 lakh had been recovered. Red entries were made in land records in 106 cases, including 75 in Tarn Taran, 19 in Amritsar, six in Ferozepur, four in Jalandhar, and one each in Fazilka and Sangrur. Warning and show-cause notices were issued to 152 nodal and supervisory officers.According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), stubble burning had been reported in 128 districts across the country, including 19 in Punjab.
