Bathinda: After leading the six states by a wide margin during the first fortnight of crop residue burning, Punjab saw its share of farm fires fall below 46% on Oct 1 as Madhya Pradesh began narrowing the gap.Of the 23 stubble-burning cases reported from three states on Oct 1, Madhya Pradesh recorded 14, followed by Uttar Pradesh with five and Punjab with four.Punjab, however, continued to top the six states in cumulative farm-fire cases, accounting for 63 of the 137 reported since the stubble-burning season began on Sept 15. Uttar Pradesh has recorded 37 cases, Madhya Pradesh 31, Haryana three, Rajasthan two and Delhi one.The 137 cases have been reported from 39 districts across the six states. In Punjab, 10 districts have reported farm fires, with only Amritsar recording cases in double digits.Amritsar has reported the highest number of crop residue burning incidents in Punjab at 38, followed by Tarn Taran (9), Ferozepur (5), Gurdaspur (3), Moga (2) and Faridkot, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar and Patiala with one each.With farm fires beginning to pick up, penal action has also started. One FIR has been registered in Patiala under Section 223 of the BNS for disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant. Environmental compensation of Rs 60,000 has been imposed in 12 cases, of which Rs 30,000 has been recovered. Red entries have been made in land records in nine cases.Warning/show-cause notices have also been issued to four nodal or supervisory officers.
