Punjab farmers defy farm fire prevention, force officer to burn stubble

A group of farmers allegedly defied the orders of a farm fire prevention team, and forced an officer to set a heap of stubble on fire in Punjab's Bathinda district, drawing condemnation from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

A purported video of the entire incident also surfaced on social media. Police have lodged an FIR in the matter after an order by Mann on Saturday. The chief minister termed the incident as an inhuman crime against the people of the state.

Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray had also written to the senior superintendent of police, asking him to register an FIR against the farmers for preventing the official from discharging his duty.

The incident took place in Mehma Sarja village on Friday when a team led by a special supervisor went there to check stubble burning incidents.

The DC said the official was surrounded by a group of 50-60 farmers with allegiance to a farmers' body, took him to a nearby field and forced him to put a heap of stubble on fire.

In the video, farmers could be heard saying that those who came to stop stubble burning were made to set the crop residue on fire.

The video also shows that the official's hand was held by two farmers, as they forced him to set the stubble on fire with a match stick. The video was made by one of the farmers.

"When he (official) was mobbed, what option he could have. He had no choice," DC Parray said.

The DC said that an FIR will be lodged in the matter and those who were behind the incident will be put behind the bars.

"I am also visiting the village myself. We will not let it go that way. Lawlessness is not something that we will tolerate," said the DC.

The DC said he has already written to the Bathinda SSP, and added that the FIR will be lodged on Saturday.

Bathinda Police registered a case under relevant sections 353 (assaults or use of criminal force against public servant in the execution of his duty), 186 (obstructing any public servant in discharge of public functions), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement, 506 (criminal intimidation) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code in the matter.

Police said further investigation into the case was underway.

In a strongly worded statement, CM Mann condemned the incident as an inhuman crime against people of the state. He said the state government cannot be a mute spectator to this heinous incident and allow anarchy to prevail.

The government official had gone there with a message of not burning stubble but the mobsters forced him to light it with a match stick, said Mann.

The chief minister said such people are ruining the lives of their own children by this "dastardly act" as the smoke from these fields will suffocate their kids also.

Mann, citing 'Gurbani', said the verse 'Pawan Guru, Paani Pitaah, Mata Dharat Mahat' shows how the Sikh gurus equated air (pawan) with teacher, water (paani) with father, and land (dharat) with mother.

Unfortunately, he said, this incident has reflected that their words are not honoured by people of the state.

Mann said he has asked the police to identify all the mobsters involved in the act and book them.

Such activities will not be tolerated at any cost and "severest of severe action" will be taken as per the law of the land, he said.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered as one of the major reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November.

As the window for wheat -- a key Rabi crop -- is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing of the next crop.

Punjab has reported a total of 14,173 stubble burning incidents till Saturday, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.