Punjab on Saturday recorded 2,817 cases of farm fire incidents after seeing a dip for the past two days with experts saying that the peak period has arrived and will continue till November 10.
Most of the Malwa belt is the worst-hit. However, there is no AQI measurement equipment in Sangrur, Barnala, Ferozepur and Tarn Taran where there are maximum cases of stubble burning.
In the last two days the count of stubble fires has been 2,437 and 2,666 and the maximum daily fires have so far been registered on November 2 with 3,634 cases.
“Almost 85% of paddy has been harvested. As per the trends of previous years, farm fires peak between November 3 and November 10. So, we are at the onset of the peak of stubble burning. Farm fires will continue for the next one week. However, the quantum will remain lower than the previous year,” said a Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) official.
The air quality of two major cities, Bathinda and Amritsar, worsened with Bathinda recording 306 AQI on Saturday against 220 on Thursday and Amritsar with 245 against 236 a day before. However, the AQI of other cities recorded an improvement with Ludhiana’s air quality at 241 against 299 on Friday, Mandi Gobindgarh at 198 against 277 a day before, Jalandhar 161 as against 223 on Friday and Patiala 174 against 240 a day before.
{{/usCountry}}The air quality of two major cities, Bathinda and Amritsar, worsened with Bathinda recording 306 AQI on Saturday against 220 on Thursday and Amritsar with 245 against 236 a day before. However, the AQI of other cities recorded an improvement with Ludhiana’s air quality at 241 against 299 on Friday, Mandi Gobindgarh at 198 against 277 a day before, Jalandhar 161 as against 223 on Friday and Patiala 174 against 240 a day before.
{{/usCountry}}“The air quality was worst affected in the last week when a majority of farm fires took place. There was a visible layer of smog throughout the day in Sangrur, Barnala, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Patiala,” said an official of the PPCB. Doctors said not only adults but children were also falling sick because of the thick smog.
On Saturday, satellites detected 2,817 active fire incidents in the state. Whereas on the same day in 2020, 5,036 active fire events were captured. In 2021, there were 5,327 active fire incidents in the state.
With this, the total cases in the current kharif season have reached 28,792, while the number was 29,400 in 2021 till November 5. The number is less from 49,122, which was recorded till November 5, 2020.
Out of the 2,817 incidents, a majority of stubble burning cases were reported from the Malwa region.