!00 acre crop destroyed in Sultanpur Lodhi

Kapurthala, Apr 23 (UNI) In the second major fire in the district this week, standing wheat crops over an area of about 100 acre acres were destroyed in a blaze that swept through four villages in Sultanpur Lodhi sub-division today.

Fire tenders from Kapurthala, Kartarpur and Rail Coach Factory extinguished the flames after battling for more than two hours in fields spread over Hussainpur, Kothekala Singh, Khera Dona and Kheeranwali villages.

The fire was first noticed in the fields of farmer Joginder Singh of village Hussainpur from where it spread in the adjoining fields.

The apparent cause of the fire was the sparking from the high tension wires passing through the fields.

On noticing the fire, a large number of villagers assembled in the fields and ploughed the fields to prevent the spread of fire and used all possible means to extinguish the flames before the fire tenders reached to control the blaze.

It was the second incident in this week. Earlier, the fire had destroyed wheat crops sown over 400 acres of land in Sultanpur Lodhi area.

Punjab Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur and local MLA visited the affected villages yesterday and met the affected farmers.

She also discussed the issue of burning of wheat crops with the Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh on telephone regarding compensation to the affected farmers.

The Chief Secretary has sought a report from Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner regarding the damage caused to the wheat crops.

Meanwhile, in adjoining district of Moga, a fire in fields of village Gazian, triggered by a spark from the transmission lines reduced to ashes the standing crops in over 20 acre of land and harvested wheat in a 5 acre farm.

UNI XC JN BK1831