Chandigarh: Police complaints or cases were registered against 2,943 farmers for stubble burning from 2019 to 2021 in Haryana and 736 were arrested in 2019 and 2020, the state assembly was informed on Wednesday.
Agriculture Minister J P Dalal gave the information through a written reply in response to a question raised by INLD member Abhay Singh Chautala. Chautala had sought to know year-wise and district wise number of cases registered against farmers for stubble burning along with fine imposed and the number of farmers arrested in these cases during the last three years in the state.
The House was also informed that a penalty of over Rs 37 lakh was imposed on defaulters in 2019, over Rs one crore in 2020 and over Rs 82 lakh in 2021. While 397 farmers were arrested in 2019, 339 were arrested in 2020, but no arrest was made in 2021, the House was informed.
In 2019, maximum complaints/cases were lodged in Jind (515) followed by Karnal (438) and Fatehabad (431), while in the year 2020, the figure for Jind was 439, which saw maximum cases in the year.
However, in 2021, number of cases filed across the state dropped to 100 from a total of 1,975 in 2019, with a maximum 82 from the Karnal district. No farmer was arrested in 2021, the minister added.
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PTI
