Highest single day count, Haryana records 86 farm fires
Total number of farm fires in Haryana reaches 330, Kaithal district tops with 80 cases. The rise in the farm fires is reported despite the state agriculture department providing 50% to 80% subsidy on the purchase of crop residue management machines
: There was no let up in the farm fires in Haryana as the state recorded 86 incidents of stubble burning on Monday, the highest single day count for the second consecutive day.
Haryana had on Sunday reported 76 farm fires.
The rise in the farm fires is reported despite the state agriculture department providing 50% to 80% subsidy on the purchase of crop residue management machines and a cash incentive of ₹1,000 paid to the farmers for in-situ and ex-situ management of the crop waste.
The state has witnessed a surge in the cases of stubble burning in the past couple of days as out of the total 330 AFLs detected by the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), 228 were reported in the past four days since the harvesting operations resumed after a bout of unseasonal rains.
The maximum 80 AFLs have been reported from Kaithal district followed by 75 in Kurukshetra, 58 in Karnal, 30 in Jind, 27 in Fatehabad, 23 in Ambala and 21 in Yamunanagar.
Sumita Misra, additional chief secretary to Haryana agriculture and farmers welfare department, in a statement, said she has issued instructions to the deputy commissioners (DC) of 10 major paddy producing districts for strict compliance of measures to check stubble burning and ensure that the farmers do not burn the crop waste and take the advantage of the cash incentive scheme launched by the government.
The DCs were told to ensure 70% to 80% fall in farm fires this year in comparison to the last year.
AQI plunges
The harmful impact of the burning of crop waste could be seen on the air quality of several cities in the state especially those are falling under the National Capital Region.
As per the air quality bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality of seven Haryana cities continues to remain “poor” for the second consecutive day with the Air Quality Index hovering between 201 to 300.
Manesar recorded an AQI of 291, Faridabad 286, Bahadurgarh 244, Gurugram 232, Jind 228, Fatehabad 210 and Kurukshetra 204.
The officials in the state agriculture department said that the rise in the number of AFLs was worrisome, claiming that efforts were being made to ensure that not even a single farmer burns crop waste.
“We have deputed over 200 officials in the field and they are holding awareness camps and telling the farmers about the affects for burning crop waste,” said Karam Chand, deputy director agriculture of Kaithal district.
Also, the officials claimed that this year, there is around 68% fall in the farm fires so far as the state witnessed 1,026 AFLs till October 17 during the last kharif harvesting season.
