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 guilty, an official may face a jail term of up to five years and a fine up to Rs.1 crore. The act mentions that this punishment shall, however, not be applicable to any farmer. In 2024, as many as 1,384 such employees were served show-cause notices, while the prosecution proceedings were started against 82 nodal officers. One of the senior officials of the PPCB said that detailed written explanations were sought from the concerned nodal officers and supervisors. "The replies received from the erring employees were first discussed and vetted at the concerned deputy commissioner level before sending the same to CAQM authorities and the state government's secretary for environment," an official said. He added that in most cases, the erring employees were let off with strict warnings for not repeating a lackadaisical approach in handling farm fire incidents. The prime motive of issuing such notices is to instil a sense of responsibility among the officers leading from the front in controlling this menace." "It is important to give out a strong message to the officers deputed to curb farm fires that any sort of leniency and dereliction of duty would not be tolerated. The main purpose of taking punitive action against erring officials was to streamline and execute a detailed action plan prepared by the government this season," said an official, privy to the development, on the condition of anonymity. He added that this year, the action was initiated only against those who failed to report proactively to control farm fire incidents in hotspot areas. In the past five years, the state has seen a 93% reduction in stubble-burning cases compared to 71,000 cases reported in 2020. This year, as many as 5,034 cases of paddy stubble burning have been recorded so far against 10,909 incidents logged last year. Meanwhile, against 5,783 FIRs registered in 2024, the state government has registered 1,890 FIRs against the farmers under Section 223 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the BNS. Besides, 2,138 red entries were also made in the revenue records of erring farmers, against 5,454 last year. Apart from it, the Punjab government also imposed environmental compensation of Rs.1.22crore in 2,316 cases. Every year, the northern region, especially Delhi and its surrounding areas, faces a public health crisis in the run-up to and during most of the winter season. The crisis began with the farm fires in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, where farmers set fire to hundreds of square kilometres of paddy fields after harvesting them to clear them of residue, posing severe health and environmental risks....