Flames amid wheat harvesting: In 10 years, crop on 2,230 acres damaged
Bathinda: With a man dying in a fire that broke out in a wheat field on Sunday, data reveals that 455 fire incidents in Punjab destroyed harvest-ready wheat crop on 2,230 acres of farmland over the past 10 years.
As the data has been taken from the
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited
and it has details only of fire caused by electric faults, the number of actual fires could be much higher. This year, several such incidents of fire have been reported in Ferozepur, Moga, Muktsar, Bathinda, and Mansa districts of Punjab.
Farmers said other incidents too led to such fires breaking out in Punjab. The reasons include sparking in tractors and combine harvesters, and smokers throwing lit cigarettes on the field.
Punjab govt has also revised compensation for people needing help due to the fire incidents. It rose the relief amount from Rs 12,000 per acre to Rs 15,000 per acre from Jan 1, 2023. Of this, Rs 6,800 is contributed from the Punjan State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). So far, Rs 1.35 crore has been paid as compensation for 2,230 acres in the last 10 years.
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PSEB Engineers Association identified the shortage of staff as one of the probable reasons behind the failure to contain such incidents. Association general secretary Ajay Pal Singh Atwal, speaking to TOI, said according to a study in 2007 by multinational services network PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), at the optimum level, there is a necessity for over 40,000 workers in PSPCL. However, presently, the staff strength has been reduced to 28,000, out of which there are 19,000 field staff. These staff members cater to 1 crore consumers, which include 14,000 agriculture pump set (AP) connections. Power is supplied to such consumers through 12,000 feeders, out of which 6,500 are agriculture feeders. According to a latest report, there is a shortage of 1,372 junior engineers (JE), 8,318 linemen, and 15,979 assistant linemen, with an aggregate shortage of 25,669 field staff. He also mentioned that the post of CMD and various directors should not be left vacant, as the absence of such senior officials impacts the corporation's functioning.
PSPCL director (distribution) Inderpal Singh said advisories are issued by PSPCL nearly a month before the start of the wheat harvesting season. "PSPCL asks farmers to harvest wheat in one marla around transformers earlier and keep at least a 10-metre area around transformers wet to prevent any sparking from turning into a fire. Farmers are advised not to keep harvested wheat under cables, transformers, or GO switches, not to touch overhead cables with any stick, and to avoid harvesting during afternoon times when the temperature is high. He says PSPCL supplies power through 1.56 lakh circuit km of lines and 2 lakh km of high tension (HT) lines, and sometimes such incidents happen," he said.
2018-19 WORST SEASON
| Season | Fire incidents | Crop area damaged (acres)
2015-16 | 81 | 251.6
2016-17 | 106 | 294.9
2017-18 | 83 | 470.4
2018-19 | 50 | 644
2019-20 | 82 | 327.4
2020-21 | 2 | 2.2
2021-22 | 12 | 77.9
2022-23 | 29 | 118.9
2023-24 | 1 | 3.5
2024-25 | 9 | 38.6
Total | 455 | 2,229.7
MSID:: 120483882 413 |
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