Bathinda: After a spike in the farm fire cases for some days, Punjab got some respite as the state reported 54 farm fire cases, taking the count to 5,571 on Thursday. Madhya Pradesh, which is following Punjab, recorded 182 farm fire cases, taking the count to 2506. Haryana recorded four stubble burning cases, taking the count to 218.Six districts from Punjab continue to be most affected out of the top ten districts from across the states, as Ferozepur continued to be the most affected district with 737 stubble burning cases out of 175 districts spread across seven states, as Tarn Taran reported 688 cases, followed by 640 in Sangrur. Bathinda was placed at fifth place with 501 cases, Patiala at sixth place with 380 cases and Barnala at tenth place with 325 farm fire cases. Ferozepur, Sangrur, Bathinda and Barnala districts have recorded a considerable number of cases in the one week.With the spurt in farm fire cases, penal action too has been put into high gear, as 1259 FIRs have been registered u/s 223 BNS (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) with 312 FIRs in Tarn Taran, 178 in Ferozepur, 153 in Patiala, 134 in Malerkotla, and 120 in Sangrur. Environmental compensation (EC) of Rs 85.90 lakh has been imposed in 1695 cases and the EC of Rs 37.55 lakh has been realised. Warning/show- cause notices have been issued to 1435 nodal/supervisory officers and prosecution action has been initiated against 29 supervisory officers.As per Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), the stubble burning so far has been reported from 175 districts, with all 23 districts in Punjab.
