Jalandhar, Nov. 21 -- As many as 1,471 nodal officers and supervisors deployed to stop farm fire incidents have been served with show-cause notices for 'dereliction of duty", even as the state has logged a 50% reduction in incidents so far this kharif season.

Over 9,000 employees from various departments, mainly revenue, rural development, panchayats, and education, were deployed across the state to report fire incidents in real-time, visit the hotspots and put out the blaze.

The state government had also initiated prosecution proceedings against 24 nodal officers under Section 14 (penalty for contravention of provisions of Act, rules, order or direction) of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act, under which, if found gui...