Punjab: Showers lead to sharp dip in farm fires, AQI satisfactory in 5 monitoring stations
A spell of showers that hit several districts of Punjab in the wee hours of Tuesday led to a sharp dip in paddy stubble burning incidents
BATHINDA : A spell of showers that hit several districts of the state in the wee hours of Tuesday led to a sharp dip in paddy stubble burning incidents.
The air quality index (AQI) at five of eight continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in the state also saw an improvement as it remained at the ‘satisfactory’ level.
According to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), 10 fresh farm fires were detected in the state taking the tally to 1,037 this season.
The sudden dip in farm fires was seen after 14 days as on September 26, the state had recorded only three stubble burning incidents.
Several parts of Majha, Malwa and Doaba experienced light rainfall and winds that did not allow the paddy growers to set the moist crop residue ablaze.
Agriculture experts say the farm fire incidents may witness an uptick from Wednesday as a section of paddy growers continue to defy prohibitory orders.
Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is attributed as one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR in October and November. As the window for rabi wheat sowing after paddy harvest is very short, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the residue.
Amritsar, that was witnessing a spate of fires since September 16 when the first case of stubble burning of the season was recorded, reported only one case on Tuesday. The PRSC satellite recorded maximum four fires from Sangrur and two from Ferozepur. Mansa, Patiala and Tarn Taran reported one fire incident each.
Punjab recorded 49,922 farm fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018 with many districts, including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar, witnessing large-scale stubble burning incidents.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data says the air quality index (AQI) of Bathinda and Ludhiana on Tuesday remained ‘moderate’ (which leads to breathing discomfort to asthmatic patients and people with lung and heart diseases) while Jalandhar’s AQI could not be determined due to lack of sufficient data.
The CAAQMS data indicates AQI in Rupnagar, Patiala, Mandi Gobindgarh, Khanna and Amritsar as ‘satisfactory’.
11.75 lakh tonnes paddy reaches mandis
According to the Punjab Mandi Board data, 2.27 lakh tonnes of paddy arrived in mandis across the state on Tuesday, taking the total arrivals to 11.75 lakh tonnes so far. A total of 2.19 lakh tonnes paddy was purchased, most of it by government agencies.
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