Bihar: In a first, farmer from Rohtas booked for stubble burning

PATNA: A farmer was booked for the first time in the state on Thursday for burning stubble, a cognizable offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Police said on Friday that an FIR was lodged against Mantosh Kumar, a resident of Ghordiha village under the Kargahar police station area in Rohtas district, for stubble burning in his agriculture land measuring 32 decimal. The complaint was registered by the block resource centre (BRC) incharge of Basdiha panchayat of Kargahar block Sanjay Kumar Singh.Rohtas in south Bihar is also called ‘dhaan ka katora (bowl of rice)’.
According to the police complaint, Mantosh was spotted burning stubble of paddy crops on his 36 decimal of land around 4pm on Thursday. The BRC incharge claimed in the FIR that he tried to persuade Mantosh not to burn paddy straw, but to no avail. The farmer had already burned the stubble spread over 32 decimal of land by the time Singh intervened.
Singh said Rohtas DM Pankaj Dixit had recently banned stubble burning in the district and also appealed to the farmers not to commit the offence. Earlier, the DM had received numerous complaints about stubble burning by the farmers of Basdiha panchayat and issued show-cause notices to the officials concerned for not taking action against the offenders.
SHO of Kargahar police station Suresh Ram said Mantosh has been booked under Section 435 of IPC, which relates to mischief caused by fire or explosive substance with intent to damage property, besides other sections of IPC and Section 15 of Environment Protection Act, 1986.
“Stubble burning is a cognizable offence in the state and the trial in the case lodged under Section 435 of IPC will be heard by the first class judicial magistrate of the area. If found guilty under Section 435 of IPC, the accused is liable for imprisonment for up to seven years and fine. The other sections of IPC slapped against the accused include 187, 178, 278, 284, 285, 296 and 291 of IPC,” the SHO said.
CM Nitish Kumar had said at a function in Patna in October this year that the farmers indulged in stubble burning would be deprived of all financial assistances from the state government. A senior officer of the state agriculture department said those found violating the order would not only be deprived of financial assistance, but also the subsidy given to them on purchase of diesel for a period of three years.
Patna divisional commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal on Tuesday issued a directive to all district magistrates under Patna division to identify farmers indulging in crop stubble burning and cancel their registration for availing different schemes of agriculture department through direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for a period of three years.