Punjab records 50% dip in stubble burning incidents in a day

Punjab records 1,271 stubble burning cases, a 51% dip from previous day. Air quality drops, with most cities in 'very poor' and 'poor' category.

With paddy harvesting at its fag end, the state recorded 1,271 cases of stubble burning on Thursday (a dip of 51%), taking the total number of cases to 31,932 in this harvest season.

Patiala DC Sakshi Sawhney along with a police team tries to douse burning stubble at a field at Nabha village in Patiala on Thursday. (ANI)

The dip comes a day after the state reported 2,544 incidents on Wednesday. As per available information with the agriculture department, less than 5% of paddy is pending harvest in the state and the government has gone full-scale to minimise the cases in the coming days.

Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman Adarshpal Vig said though the cases have come down compared to the past three days, the number of cases is still high as per expectations.

“We have gone all out to tackle farm fires in Punjab but the farmers are still burning the stubble despite stringent measures adopted by the district administrations across the state. The cases are reported more in the areas where the farmer unions have a strong base,” Vig said.

With more than 8,000 cases reported in the past five days, the air quality continued to drop in Punjab as seven out of eight cities reported air quality index (AQI) levels in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ category.

He said all the entities involved in implementing the state action plan are keeping a close tab and will keep working till the last paddy field is harvested and wheat sowing is completed.

According to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Moga reported 237 cases of stubble burning followed by 170 in Bathinda, 145 in Barnala, 129 in Sangrur, 113 in Faridkot and 110 in Ludhiana. Ferozepur reported 77 cases of stubble burning, while Fazilka reported 64 such cases.

Of the 49,992 farm fires last year, 6,703 were reported between November 16 and 30. In 2021, this number was 4,284 of a total of 71,304 cases.

The state recorded 1,756 cases of stubble burning on November 16, 2021, and 1,358 cases on the same date in 2022. The total cases reported in the state during the corresponding period in 2021 and 2022 were 68,776 and 44,647 cases, respectively.

AQI continues to drop in Punjab

With more than 8,000 cases reported in the past five days, the air quality continued to drop in Punjab as seven out of eight cities reported air quality index (AQI) levels in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ category.

Bathinda remained most polluted with an AQI of 352, which is in a ‘very poor’ category, followed by 309 in Mandi Gobindgarh. Amritsar, which had an AQI level in the ‘moderate’ category for the past three days, reported an AQI of 285, followed by Jalandhar 277, Patiala 250, Ludhiana 246 and Khanna 222, all in the poor category.

Rupnagar recorded a moderate air quality with 176 AQI.

An official said that stubble burning was one of the reasons for poor air quality, but the sudden dip in the temperature and slow wind speed are also reasons behind smog and poor air quality.

PPCB chairman Vig said the air quality will improve in the coming days with the number of stubble cases likely to come down.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution in the national capital in October and November. As the window for rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing of the next crop.