HoneY
MaaPeya Da LaaDLa
May 5:
Five people were killed and 12, six of them schoolchildren, received burn injuries in fires that extensively damaged standing wheat crop in several districts in Punjab and Haryana this week.
Several heads of cattle perished in the infernos that also destroyed grain stores and farm equipment in Punjab's Muktsar and Bhatinda districts and Dabwali area in Haryana. The fires, which broke out simultaneously threatening to engulf human settlements, had been totally extinguished, official sources said.
Five people, three of them women, perished in the fires, they said. In Muktsar district, six children suffered burn injuries when the driver of their school bus abandoned it after fires erupted on both sides of a narrow village road. Local villagers succeeded in saving the lives of the schoolchildren, the sources said.
The fires destroyed standing crop in some 60 villages in Muktsar and Bathinda in Punjab and Sirsa district in Haryana, they said. Preliminary investigations revealed the fires might have been caused by farmers who in an attempt to clear their fields for the next farm operation set wheat stubs ablaze.
Visiting the affected villages, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said his government would work out a formula to provide relief to fire victims. Leader of the Opposition and state Congress chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal also toured the affected areas and met families of the victims.
Five people were killed and 12, six of them schoolchildren, received burn injuries in fires that extensively damaged standing wheat crop in several districts in Punjab and Haryana this week.
Several heads of cattle perished in the infernos that also destroyed grain stores and farm equipment in Punjab's Muktsar and Bhatinda districts and Dabwali area in Haryana. The fires, which broke out simultaneously threatening to engulf human settlements, had been totally extinguished, official sources said.
Five people, three of them women, perished in the fires, they said. In Muktsar district, six children suffered burn injuries when the driver of their school bus abandoned it after fires erupted on both sides of a narrow village road. Local villagers succeeded in saving the lives of the schoolchildren, the sources said.
The fires destroyed standing crop in some 60 villages in Muktsar and Bathinda in Punjab and Sirsa district in Haryana, they said. Preliminary investigations revealed the fires might have been caused by farmers who in an attempt to clear their fields for the next farm operation set wheat stubs ablaze.
Visiting the affected villages, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said his government would work out a formula to provide relief to fire victims. Leader of the Opposition and state Congress chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal also toured the affected areas and met families of the victims.
