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Punjab
fields on fire
WSN Bureau
MUKTSAR:
Two women
were charred to death at Ahulana in Haryana’s Sonepat district when
they were trapped in a burning field of wheat stubbles set afire by
farmers. Three more women and six schoolkids in
Punjab’s Muktsar
district too were burned when their van was caught between two wheat
fields on fire. In yet another incident at Jakhalkala
village
of Tohana
subdivision in Fatehabad district in Haryana a boy sustained burns
on Thursday evening when winds fanned the fire near Neondkala and
Shakarpura villages.
In Muktsar, the
kids had a miraculous escape despite the fact that the van driver
ran to save his life. At the time of the incident, there were 12
children in the van and six of them got burn injuries up to 35%,
said a source. The incident occurred at around 3.45 pm when the
school van was on its way to Rupana village to drop the students.
Thick layers of smoke had engulfed the entire stretch between
Bhullar and Rupana villages.
As the children
cried for help, some villagers trying to extinguish the flames in
the adjoining fields heard them. They then rushed to extricate the
kids from the inferno. Meanwhile, over 70 incidents of fire were
reported from Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Moga districts alone.
With poor infrastructure, poor fire fighting equipment and rickety
fire engines, the fire brigade department employees found themselves
helpless in fighting the fire.
Although all
four districts have three fire engines each, their condition is
pathetic. In fact, the Bathinda district administration had to ask
for help from the Army cantonment nearby. Fire incidents in wheat
fields were being reported for the last over two weeks after the
ripening of wheat crop and increase in temperature. But strong winds
and some farmers burning wheat stubble in their fields despite a ban
on this activity has made the situation dangerous.
7
May,
2008
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