Punjab: Policemen are working nearly 18 hours a day to curb stubble burning across the state. In Sanaur, an assistant sub-inspector along with three head constables successfully doused a farm fire in Bapror village despite stiff resistance from farmers. “Sometimes our duty goes beyond 18 hours as we visit the fields ourselves. We have been asked to keep an eye on stubble burning incidents and register cases. We use tree branches and take help from farmers to douse the fire,” said an ASI.
With the number of farm fire incidents touching 2,000 and the Supreme Court monitoring the situation, the district administration has started mounting pressure on field officers. “There are barely 20 days left for wheat sowing,” said Harjeet Singh from Sanaur. A policeman posted in Rajpura said, “Yesterday I joined duty at 8 am. We were asked to reach Rajpura and manage the traffic. After the protest ended at 3:30 pm, we were asked to go to the grain market. At 7 pm, our team was sent to two villages to investigate incidents of fire in the fields. A senior IPS officer said that there is a lot of pressure on police personnel these days.
