Chandigarh:

Punjab recorded a 70 per cent reduction in farm fires this season, said Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian here on Saturday.

Punjab reported 10,909 stubble-burning incidents from September 15 to November 30 this year, compared to 36,663 such incidents in the corresponding period last year.

The significant reduction in farm fires can be attributed to increased mechanisation in the agricultural sector, he said in a statement here.

Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said 22,582 sanction letters were issued to farmers for subsidised crop residue management machines, with 16,125 machines being procured.

Lauding farmers for the decline in the number of farm fires, he said, “It’s our collective responsibility to save the environment for our future generations. Stubble burning not only causes air pollution but also reduces the fertility of the soil.” Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting paddy in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi.

As the window for the Rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue for the next sowing season.

Punjab recorded a total of 36,663 farm fires in 2023, registering a 26 per cent drop in such incidents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi Police has arrested a 23-year-old woman from Ludhiana over her alleged involvement in the rape case of a minor, officials said on Sunday.

The accused was declared a proclaimed offender in the case, which was registered at the Kanjhawala police station here five years ago, they said.

According to a senior police officer, the incident took place in November 2019. The victim, then 15-year-old, was initially reported missing by her family, prompting a search operation.

Upon investigation, it emerged that the minor had been lured by one Geeta. The woman allegedly took the teenager to Surat in Gujarat, where she was allegedly held captive, drugged, and repeatedly raped by two men, said the officer.

The girl’s statement was recorded in 2020 after the woman abandoned her in Delhi. She told the police that two men –” Pintu and Satinder — allegedly raped her repeatedly for around four months, acting on Geeta’s direction.

She claimed the SIM card of her phone was destroyed and she was completely cut off from contacting anyone, the officer said.

Based on the minor’s statement, several Indian Penal Code sections 328 (causing hurt by poison to commit an offence), 376D (gang rape), and 120B (criminal conspiracy), along with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Several police teams were formed to catch the accused, but Geeta managed to evade arrest by frequently changing locations.

She was finally caught on Saturday when the police received a tip-off regarding her location in Janta Nagar, Ludhiana in Punjab from where she was arrested.

The two accused men are still at large, the police said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)