Punjab farm fire cases fall to 37 in a day; 738 FIRs filed so far

Bathinda: Punjab reported 37 farm fire cases on Wednesday, marking a decline in daily incidents even as legal action against violators continued across the state. With the latest cases, the total number of crop residue burning incidents this season rose to 9,568.Ferozepur remained the worst-affected district with 906 cases, followed by Bathinda and Moga with 740 cases each, Tarn Taran 712 and Amritsar 698.According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board's action taken dashboard, 738 FIRs have been registered under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita till May 18. Moga recorded the highest 194 FIRs, followed by 154 in Amritsar, 71 in Sangrur and 60 in Mansa.Authorities have also made 846 red entries in land records and imposed environmental compensation of Rs 1 crore in 2,126 farm fire cases. Of this, Rs 7.15 lakh has been recovered so far. Warning and showcause notices have also been issued to 130 nodal and supervisory officers.Across the country, Madhya Pradesh reported 196 farm fire cases on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh 90 and Haryana one case.According to Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) data, India has reported 66,318 crop residue burning cases so far this season, including 37,848 in Madhya Pradesh, 15,482 in Uttar Pradesh, 9,568 in Punjab and 3,356 in Haryana.