Wheat crop burnt to ashes, sparking in power line suspected cause

A fierce fire broke out in the wheat crop lying close to the Abohar-Malout-Gobindgarh road this afternoon due to which the crop and straw were burnt to ashes.

As soon as information in this regard was received, the Fire Brigade vehicles reached the spot and started extinguishing the fire. Farmers said sparking in electricity transmission lines was the cause of the incident. However, the same was to be ascertained officially.

Farmers said sparking was seen in a wire near a transformer at around 3 pm due to which the crop caught fire which spread so much that around 60 acres of the crop and straw in about 150 acres were burnt to ashes.

There was a stampede among farmers and they reached the fields with their tractors to extinguish the fire.

Fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot. Councillor Jashanpreet Sandhu of Baba Deep Singh Nagar said the fire engulfed 20 acres of Baljinder Singh, 20 acres of Balwinder Singh, 15 acres of former sarpanch Pal Sandhu, 4 acres of Bakhshish Singh and an acre of the wheat crop of Balkaran Singh.

Meanwhile, in a tragic aspect of the incident, Baljinder Singh, who has five daughters, had sold an acre of his land a few days ago to get his daughter married. He has a debt of about Rs 10 lakh and had taken 20 acres on contract and cultivated wheat which was burnt to ashes. Baljinder was inconsolable after the fire incident.

A team of officials led by Sub Divisional Magistrate SDM Krishan Pal Rajput, who reached the spot, was monitoring the situation. Farmers were also cooperating with the fire tenders till the filing of this news.

Punjab