E-Paper
Farm fires, dip in temperature worsen AQI in Punjab
Punjab's pollution worsens, with Amritsar's AQI at 334. Stubble burning spikes to 509 cases as farmers prepare for wheat sowing amid smog.
Punjab continued to grapple with rising pollution levels on Wednesday, with Amritsar reporting the worst air quality index of 334, falling in the ‘very poor’ category.
The thick smog blanketed the state lowering the visibility and hitting the railway and vehicular traffic in the wee hours.
Mandi Gobindgarh also reported the ‘very poor’ AQI at 312. Patiala witnessed an AQI of 240, followed by Jalandhar 215, Ludhiana 211 and Khanna 210, all falling under the ‘poor’ category.
Bathinda and Rupnagar recorded an AQI in the moderate category at 147 and 182, respectively.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting the paddy crop in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution. As the window for sowing the rabi crop, wheat is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue.
One of the PPCB officials, who didn’t wish to be named, said the stubble burning can’t be solely blamed for the poor air quality as there are multiple factors based on which AQI levels of a particular area are measured.
“Smog after Diwali is due to a high pollution level. The sudden dip in the temperature, especially in early morning hours, is also the key reason behind smog and poor air quality,” the official said. He said that rain in the coming days will help in bringing the pollution level down.
Over 500 farm fires reported
After witnessing 83 farm fire incidents on Tuesday, there was a sudden spike in cases today with the state reporting 509 cases on Wednesday taking the season’s total to 7,621.
Both Ferozepur and Faridkot districts reported 91 active farm fires each, followed by 88 in Moga and 79 in Muktsar district. Bathinda district reported 50 cases of stubble burning.
State agriculture director Jaswant Singh said the state government is reviewing the stubble-burning situation on a daily basis.
“We estimate that 9% of paddy is yet to be harvested. The teams are present on the ground and responding promptly in real time to douse the fire and take action according to the law,” he said.
Meanwhile, another official attributed to spike in the number of cases at the fag-end of harvesting to farmers trying to prepare their fields for wheat sowing.
“The field teams have been directed to approach those who are yet to harvest their crop to minimise the stubble burning cases in coming months,” an official said.
