Satellite spots offenders, Patiala admn slaps fine on four farmers

PATIALA:In a first, the Patiala district administration slapped fine on four farmers for burning stubble and causing pollution after satellites spotted the offenders.

Patiala deputy commissioner Kumar Amit said the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Ludhiana, received information on stubble being set ablaze in two different villages of the district.

“Taking cognisance of the reports, the teams of pollution board immediately raided the fields and challaned four farmers for violating norms,” the DC added.

“The team, including the SDM and enforcement wing of the PPCB, traced their fields in the wee hours with the help of satellite pictures and issued two challans in Bhasmara villages worth for Rs 5,000 each. The owner of the land where stubble was being burnt in Dulbaha village was fined Rs 2,500,” he said.

The Punjab Remote Sensing Centre project was launched in 2015 on the orders of National Green Tribunal (NGT), which directed the state pollution board to use remote sensing facilities to tackle stubble burning.

However, this is for the first time that prompt SMS are being sent to DCs and monitoring committees.

The PRSC use Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) to collect geo-spatial data that helped to take prompt action against the defaulters.