On the directives of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Punjab government has deputed 10 senior Administrative Secretaries to effectively check the menace of stubble burning in the state.

These senior officers would sensitise and motivate all stakeholders against harmful practice of stubble burning, besides taking stock of the paddy procurement operation on daily basis.

Disclosing this on Tuesday, the state nodal officer for Anti-Stubble Burning Campaign Kahan Singh Pannu said the CM had issued directives to all agencies and officials engaged for this gigantic task to ensure smooth and seamless operations of paddy procurement.

He said that elaborate arrangements have been made for procuring expected 200 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in a prompt and hassle-free manner besides ensuring basic amenities to facilitate farmers in the state mandis.

Pannu further said that the CM had asked the senior administrative secretaries to effectively co-ordinate to contain the stubble burning in districts allotted to them.

He said additional chief secretary taxation MP Singh and secretary technical education DK Tiwari would coordinate the campaign to sensitise the farmers in districts namely Kapurthala, Jalandhar, SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur.

The additional chief secretary development Viswajeet Khanna and secretary PWD Hussan Lal shall oversee the campaign in Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala and Mansa districts.

Additional chief secretary sports Sanjay Kumar and secretary water supply and sanitation Jaspreet Talwar will monitor all activities to stop stubble burning in districts of Ludhiana, Moga, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Mohali whereas financial commissioner rural development and panchayats Anurag Verma and registrar cooperative societies Vikas Garg will oversee the operation in districts of Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Pathankot and Gurdaspur.

Principal secretary science technology RK Verma and secretary agriculture and commissioner food and drug administration KS Pannu will supervise operations in this regard in the district of Bathinda, Faridkot, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts. The teams would start visiting their respective districts from 4 October onwards, he added.