38 FARMERS IN 7 DISTRICTS FACE ACTION FOR STUBLE BURNING

LUCKNOW: : Thirty eight farmers in seven districts of the state have been fined more than Rs 1 Lakh for burning stubble since October 11, officials said.

A drive to curtail air pollution by preventing burning of agricultural waste is currently underway in the state.

In Saharanpur district, the local administration levied penalty of Rs 35000 on 14 farmers who were found burning stubble in their fields on Sunday. Farmers in Mathura, Etawah, Mainpuri, Shamli and Fatehpur were also penalised for the same reason. Around a dozen FIRs have also been registered against farmers in these districts for stubble burning with two FIRs being registered in Maharajganj on Monday. In the FIRs, registered for burning stubble, the farmers have been booked under section 435 (mischief by fire) and 188 (disobedience of order by public servant) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“The administration has to take tough action against farmers for we have to comply with the orders of NGT and state government to prevent the burning of agricultural waste including stubble as it leads to air pollution,” said Akhilesh Singh, the district magistrate of Saharanpur. He said they were in touch with the farmers to persuade them to not burn stubble but if their appeals didn’t make any impact, punitive action would follow. While government officials and officers of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution control board (UPPCB) justified the punitive steps saying they were necessary to control air pollution, various social organizations and farmer groups have described the action as an ‘excessive’ measure.

“It is not right to blame and punish farmers for air pollution. The government must talk to farmers and help them in managing the farm waste,” said Ram Kumar Sonkar an office bearer of Rashtriya Kisan Union.

In west UP districts where paddy cultivation is done on large scale like Shahjahanpur, the district administration has made arrangements of machines that process stubble.