Nine officials have faced harsh disciplinary action in this district for alleged dereliction of duty in preventing stubble burning.

Five officials have been prosecuted under Section 14(2) of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act 2021, while four were suspended for failing to perform their pollution prevention duties. agricultural fires.

Case counts are down 58% this year

• Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma says thanks to stringent measures and multiple strategies adopted this year, there is an overall 58% reduction in farm fire cases compared to the previous year.
• Last year, the number of cases until November 2 was 1,186, while this year it is only 481.
• Additionally, an amount of Rs 5.8 lakh has been recovered as environmental compensation from the violators.

Further, Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma has issued notices under Section 14 to 102 officials, including officials of groups and nodes tasked with controlling the menace of stubble burning.

According to the information, an agricultural extension officer, a junior engineer of the Drainage Department and three panchayat secretaries have been booked under the CAQM Act, while two officials of the Rural Development Department, one of the Department of Conservation of Soils and one of the Department of Cooperatives have been suspended.

The proceedings were filed before the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) as per the provisions of the Act.

Confirming the same, the DC said the administration had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards any dereliction of duty with respect to prevention of stubble burning. He said that due to the strict measures and multiple strategies adopted this year, there was an overall 58% reduction in cases of agricultural fires compared to the previous year.

“Last year, the number of cases till November 2 was 1,186, while this year it is only 481,” the DC said.

According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture, rice harvesting has been completed in about 72% of the area in this border district. “The emphasis now is on in-situ management of stubble in the fields, for which Agriculture Department officials are actively working in the fields to provide adequate assistance to farmers,” he said.

The DC said he had been canvassing villages in the subdivisions and added that 45 group officers and 476 nodal officers had been deployed to maintain vigil in the district.

“The civil and police authorities are jointly taking the necessary measures. Red entries have been made in the income record of 232 farmers for stubble burning,” the DC said, adding that an amount of Rs 5.8 lakh was recovered as environmental compensation from the violators.

Meanwhile, law enforcement authorities also continued their tirade against agricultural fires. SSP Soumya Mishra said that 296 FIRs had been registered against defaulting farmers till date. As many as 121 FIRs were lodged in the last four days alone, he said, adding that 67 special teams were monitoring the situation round the clock.