Patiala Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal, while reviewing the preparedness to prevent incidents of paddy stubble burning, directed all nodal officers to pay special attention to villages identified as stubble-burning hotspots in previous years. He said that villages that have remained free from stubble burning in previous years would be honoured, while necessary action would be taken against those found burning stubble as per the prescribed rules.
The Deputy Commissioner directed all SDMs and officers of the Agriculture and Cooperation Department and the Punjab Pollution Control Board to ensure compliance with the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on April 3, 2025. He said that no incident of stubble burning should take place in any field in Patiala district.
Dr Himanshu Aggarwal directed the concerned departments to undertake effective coordinated action to prevent incidents of stubble burning during 2026 and complete all necessary arrangements well in advance. He asked the Agriculture Department to conduct maximum awareness activities at the village level, motivate farmers not to burn stubble and ensure optimum utilisation of machinery available for stubble management.
He said that the availability of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery for stubble management should be ensured at the village/cluster level and that necessary assistance should be provided to farmers for using the machinery.
The Deputy Commissioner directed the Panchayat Department to motivate farmers through Gram Panchayats not to burn stubble and to conduct awareness campaigns at the village level. He also directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to continuously monitor incidents of stubble burning and take necessary action as per rules and directions whenever any such incident is reported.
Dr Himanshu Aggarwal directed the Police Department and the concerned SDMs to maintain effective surveillance in their respective jurisdictions and ensure necessary coordination with the concerned departments. He said that SDMs and nodal officers should regularly visit their respective villages and areas and take preventive measures in advance to avert possible incidents of stubble burning.
He directed the concerned departments to monitor their respective activities on a daily basis and continuously review progress so that corrective measures could be taken immediately whenever required. He said that all departments should work together in close coordination to minimise incidents during the 2026 stubble-burning season and strictly ensure compliance with the directions issued by the government and the Hon’ble Court.
During the meeting, ADC Damanjit Singh Mann, SP Rajesh Chhibbar, all SDMs, Executive Engineer of the Punjab Pollution Control Board Rantej Sharma, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Dara Singh, Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies Sangram Singh Sandhu, GM District Industries Centre Deep Singh Gill, DDPO Mahinderjit Singh, JE Ravi Kumar and other nodal officers were also present.