Bathinda: Punjab on Tuesday recorded 36 cases of crop residue burning, pushing the total count past Madhya Pradesh in the ongoing paddy harvesting season.Punjab has so far registered 404 stubble burning cases against 388 reported from Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan recorded 215 cases, followed by 187 cases in Uttar Pradesh, 61 in Uttarakhand, nine in Haryana and one in Delhi.Apart from Punjab’s 36 farm fire cases, MP and Rajasthan each reported 18 cases, UP reported 12, and Uttarakhand reported 10; these five states cumulatively reported 94 farm fire cases on Tuesday. The combined count across seven states totals 1,265.Tarn Taran and Amritsar, the border districts in Punjab, continue to be the hot spots across the seven states even though a high-level team from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the NCR and adjoining area is visiting parts of Punjab and giving directions to make all-out efforts to eliminate farm fire cases.Tarn Taran has reported the maximum 198 cases, followed by 117 in Amritsar.With the spurt in farm fire cases, penal action has also been intensified. Twenty-seven FIRs have been registered under Section 223 BNS (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) – 15 FIRs in Tarn Taran, three each in Amritsar and Jalandhar, two in Gurdaspur and one each in Fazilka, Ferozepur, Sangrur and Patiala.Also, environmental compensation of Rs 6.40 lakh has been imposed in 126 cases, of which a fine of Rs 2.60 lakh has been realised.Red entries have been made in the land records in 100 cases – 70 in Tarn Taran, 19 in Amritsar, six in Ferozepur, four in Jalandhar and one in Sangrur – while warning/show-cause notices have been issued to 152 nodal/supervisory officers.According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space, stubble burning has been reported from 123 districts so far, including 18 in Punjab.Crop residue burning till Oct 20Punjab: 404MP: 388Rajasthan: 215UP: 187Uttarakhand: 61Haryana: 9Delhi: 1Total: 1,265
