E-Paper
After crackdown, Punjab sees 68% dip in farm fire cases
Sangrur registered 135 farm fire cases, followed by 96 cases in Mansa, 83 in Ferozepur, 52 in Kapurthala, 38 in Fazilka and 32 in Jalandhar. Pathankot and SAS Nagar districts reported zero cases of stubble burning
A day after the crackdown, Punjab reported a 68% dip in farm fire incidents across the state on Thursday. Punjab reported 639 active cases, down from 2,003 reported on Wednesday, taking this harvest season’s total to 23,620.
The district heads across the state remained in the field and were given a free hand to impose environmental compensation, make red entries into land records and register FIRs against farmers.
Punjab agriculture director Jaswant Singh said the decline is a relief as all the departments are working round the clock to minimise the cases, especially after the Supreme Court directions.
“Police enforcement in controlling the stubble burning has yielded positive results as there is a sense of fear among the people. The cases are likely to drop down further in coming days,” he said.
Singh added that nearly 20% of paddy is yet to be harvested, mainly in southern Punjab, and it will be over by next week.
Sangrur registered 135 farm fire cases, followed by 96 cases in Mansa, 83 in Ferozepur, 52 in Kapurthala, 38 in Fazilka and 32 in Jalandhar. Pathankot and SAS Nagar districts reported zero cases of stubble burning.
The state reported 5,079 and 1,778 farm fires on November 9, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The total cases reported in the state during the corresponding period in 2022 and 2021 were 34,868 and 47,409 cases, respectively.
One of the officials said though there is a major decline in the number of stubble cases than Wednesday, looking at the past trends, the figures will keep fluctuating. “Such a situation was witnessed last year also. For instance, the stubble burning cases dropped to 604 on November 8 last year but in the next five days, 12,335 farm fires were reported in the state,” an official said.
Air quality worsens in state
Even as the number of stubble-burning cases dropped considerably on Thursday, the air quality worsened.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, Bathinda, which reported 17 cases of stubble burning, recorded the worst air quality index (AQI) at 372 followed by 357 in Mandi Gobindgarh, which falls under the ‘very poor’ category. Patiala, which registered 29 farm fires, is also in the ‘very poor’ category with 306 AQI. Meanwhile, Khanna recorded an AQI of 297, followed by 285 in Ludhiana, 249 in Jalandhar, 229 in Amritsar and 205 in Rupnagar, which reported only two cases of stubble burning.
