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Punjab clocks over 2k farm fire incidents on Monday; next 10 days critical, say experts
Of the 2,060 cases, Sangrur reported a maximum of 509 followed by Bathinda 210, Mansa 195, Barnala 189, Ferozepur 146, Faridkot 122, Moga 110 and 89 each in Patiala and Ludhiana. Muktsar recorded 77 cases, while Jalandhar reported 70 fire incidents
After recording 63% of total cases of stubble burning in the past one week, the agriculture experts said the coming 10 days are going to be crucial for Punjab as far as the spike in fire incidents is concerned.
On Monday, the state recorded 2,060 cases, taking the total incidents of stubble burning to 19,463 cases this harvest season.
Though the cases of stubble burning are much lesser when compared to 2022 and 2021 but the state agriculture department and Punjab Pollution Control Board have expressed concern over a spike in the number of incidents across the state at a time when the paddy harvesting is at its fag end.
Going by trends of stubble burning reported during the last phase of the harvesting season, at least 35% of total cases were recorded from November 6 to 16 last year, while the figure was higher in 2021 as 44% of total cases were reported during the same period of the time.
In 2022, of a total of 49,992 fire incidents, as many as 17,525 cases were reported between November 6 and November 16. In 2021, a total of 71,304 cases were reported, of which 39,992 cases of stubble burning were recorded during the same dates.
The cases started receding post-November 17 in both the years.
As per the estimated figures from the state agriculture department, 20-25% of the total 31.93 lakh hectares of area under paddy cultivation is yet to be harvested.
One of the officials of the agriculture department said the wheat sowing has already started in many parts of the state and there is a short window for the farmers, who have yet to harvest their paddy crop, to prepare their fields for wheat sowing.
“Both in-situ or ex-situ management processes require at least 3-4 days to clear paddy straw from agriculture fields before ploughing the fields for the wheat crop. In this situation, the farmers have no choice but to burn paddy leftover and start preparing their fields for wheat sowing,” an official said.
Punjab director agriculture Jaswant Singh said the coming 7-10 days are crucial for which the detailed meeting was held with deputy commissioners of all the districts to implement an action plan to minimise the cases.
“The cases are likely to recede after November 15. The cases dropped down in 2022 as compared to 2021 in the last leg of harvesting. We are expecting a drop in overall figures this year too,” he said.
Sangrur tops the chart with 509 cases
Of the 2,060 cases, Sangrur reported a maximum of 509 followed by Bathinda 210, Mansa 195, Barnala 189, Ferozepur 146, Faridkot 122, Moga 110 and 89 each in Patiala and Ludhiana. Muktsar recorded 77 cases, while Jalandhar reported 70 fire incidents.
The state reported 3,942 and 599 farm fire incidents on November 6 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The total cases reported in the state during the corresponding period in 2022 and 2021 were 28,792 and 32,374, respectively.
Air quality deteriorates across state
The thick smog engulfed almost all the districts in Punjab. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, Amritsar recorded the worst air quality index (AQI) at 316, which falls under the ‘very poor’ category, followed by 288 in Bathinda, 282 in Ludhiana, 256 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 222 in Jalandhar, 225 in Khanna, 219 in Patiala, all in the poor category. Rupnagar reported an AQI of 140, which falls in the moderate category.
Farm fire tracker
2,060 cases on Nov 6
19,463 total so far
Air quality index
Amritsar 316
Bathinda 288
Ludhiana 282
Mandi Gobindgarh 256
Khanna 225
Jalandhar 222
Patiala 219
Rupnagar 140
