Burning updates: Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua has asked the top official of the state to visit all the districts to take stock of the ground situation of stubble fire incidents. He said that due to incidents of stubble burning, Punjab has to face embarrassment at the national level and the Supreme Court, National Air Quality Commission and National Green Tribunal (NGT)have also made strong comments regarding these incidents.

He said that it is very important to study the ground situation of stubble burning incidents. Senior IAS Officers have been placed in charge of the district, they must visit the respective districts. It is worth mentioning that the Punjab government has appointed 23 senior IAS from 23 districts of the state. Officers are placed in charge of the district to oversee the procurement process of crops and implementation of welfare schemes in their respective districts.
The Chief Secretary said during the review meeting with the top officials and all the Deputy Commissioners of Punjab for reducing the rate of stubble burning and stubble management that the entire machinery of the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is working hard to ensure that this The incidence of stubble burning should be greatly reduced. He instructed the Deputy Commissioners that farmers who do not burn stubble should be honored at the district level so that other farmers can also take inspiration from them.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary received the progress report on stubble management of his district from the Deputy Commissioner individually and issued many suggestions, directives and instructions on the spot. He said that more and more farmers should be made aware about not burning stubble by making announcements from religious places of villages, through awareness camps and using other means of propaganda.

On this occasion, the Deputy Commissioners said that till now there is a significant decrease in the incidents of stubble burning and all are making efforts at their respective levels to keep it under control. The Deputy Commissioners brought many such cases to the notice of the Chief Secretary where after investigation it was found that the stubble was not set on fire.

The Chief Secretary said that  this year, compared to the previous years, there has been a significant reduction in the cases of stubble burning and efforts should be continued to reduce it further. He said that in the villages where there have been cases of setting fire to the stubble during the last years, the administration has been more vigilant.