New Delhi, Oct 22
Cracking the whip against lax officials, the Haryana government placed 24 Agriculture Department employees, including seven supervisors and three inspectors, under suspension for failure to act against farmers indulging in stubble burning, an official said on Tuesday.
FIRs were also registered against three farmers each in Sirsa and Karnal. In Karnal, two farmers were arrested for illegal burning of stubble, officials said.
An order issued by Haryana’s Director of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Rajnarayan Kaushik, said, “The 24 officials/officers are hereby suspended on the administrative ground. Terms and conditions of the suspension will be circulated later.”
Those who faced action included three supervisors from Kaithal, two from Sonipat and two from Jind. Two inspectors from Ambala and one from Fatehabad were also suspended.
Meanwhile, FIRs were registered against three farmers in Sirsa district for stubble burning and five agriculturalists were slapped with a penalty of Rs 20,000 each.
Deputy Director, of Agriculture, Sukhdev Kamboj, said 16 incidents of stubble burning had been reported in the district.
“Three farmers have been booked and five farmers have been penalised Rs 20,000 each. The Revenue Department has also made a red entry in its records against the defaulters due to which their crop would not be bought by the government for two seasons,” he said.
In Karnal district, the administration confirmed receiving information related to 68 incidents of stubble burning.
Station House Officer, Sadar Police Station, Rajpal Singh confirmed that three FIRs had been registered. “Two accused have been arrested while one is still to be taken into custody,”
In a related development, farmers at Karnal mandi voiced their concerns over the government’s failure to provide an alternative to stubble burning.
“There is a shortage of machines to discard crop residue, leaving farmers with little option but to burn stubble,” said Shiv Kumar, a farmer.
Another agriculturist, Satpal, urged the government to come up with a solution soon to save them from monetary loss.
“If a farmer does not burn stubble, he ends up incurring a loss of up to Rs 7,000,” he said.
The punitive action against Haryana officials for failure to check stubble burning comes close to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi's attack on the BJP-ruled state for failure to check stubble burning that was adding to air pollution in the national capital.
Citing data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Atishi highlighted that between October 1 and 15, 2023, Punjab recorded only 811 farm fires, down 27 per cent from the previous year's 1,105. In contrast, she pointed out, Haryana saw a 23 per cent increase in farm fires during the same period, rising from 341 in 2022 to 400 in 2023.
Atishi questioned why the BJP governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh couldn't replicate the success of Punjab in reducing stubble burning, accusing them of playing "dirty politics" at the expense of Delhi's residents.
"If AAP's Punjab government can reduce stubble burning, why can't the BJP governments in Haryana and UP do the same?" she asked.
The Delhi Chief Minister highlighted the success of AAP-ruled Punjab, stating that in 2021, before the AAP government was formed, Punjab recorded 71,300 stubble-burning incidents. However, by 2023, this number was halved to 36,600. She attributed this reduction to the AAP's sustained efforts over two years.