Smog cloaks Haryana cities amid raging farm fires

Air quality of 13 cities turn ‘very poor’, 112 fresh incidents of farm fires recorded on Saturday, taking the total number to 1,813

: A thick blanket of smog enveloped parts of Haryana as farm fires in the state continued unabated which led to the air quality of 13 cities plunging to ‘very poor’ levels, with farmers and agriculture experts blaming shorter window for wheat sowing as the root cause behind a rise in the incidents of stubble burning in the state.

Smog cloaks Haryana cities amid raging farm fires

Air quality of most of the cities, especially those falling under the National Capital Region deteriorated soon after Diwali as the state witnessed a sudden increase in the incidents of farm fires in the past one week.

On Saturday, the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) detected 112 incidents of farm fires, taking the total number in the state to 1,813.

As per the ground reports, farmers and agriculture experts said that shorter window for sowing of wheat is the root cause behind a rise in the incidents of stubble burning in the state.

The farmers said that heavy rainfall received in most parts of the state has not only delayed the harvesting of paddy but has also irrigated the fields, thus helping the farmers to sow the next crop without flooding the fields.

“The harvesting was already delayed more than a week and we cannot wait for the machines to lift the crop waste as the fields are ready for sowing of wheat and burning crop waste is the quickest solution,” said a farmer near Ladwa of Kurukshetra district.

Harvesting of paddy is in the last leg in major paddy sowing districts of Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukshetra and these areas were still reporting maximum incidents of farm fires.

Officials in the state agriculture department said that the sowing of wheat has gained momentum, thus the farmers were burning crop waste to make the most of the favourable weather conditions and suitable moisture content in the soil.

Karam Chand, deputy director agriculture, Kaithal district, which witnessed the highest 502 incidents of farm fires so far, said, “heavy rain before and during the harvesting season has shortened the window for sowing of next crops, leading to a rise in the incidents of farm fires.”

“We are monitoring the situation very closely and farmers have been advised to use machines for in-situ and ex-situ management of crop waste,” he added.

Haryana unlikely to achieve 50 pc decline target

Since the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas had strictly directed the Haryana government to bring down farm fires by 50% during the current paddy harvesting season in comparison to total active fire locations (AFL) recorded last year, the sudden increase in the number of cases has caused a concern for the state government.

The number of farm fires this season should not exceed to 3,493, which is 50% of 6,987 incidents of farm fires recorded during the last harvesting season ending on November 30.

As per the current situation, the state has reported only 25 per cent decline in comparison to the last year as the state has reported 1,813 cases against 2,413 incidents recorded till October 29 last year.

Hardeep Singh, director general of agriculture department, said, “the initiatives including cash incentives, subsidised machines and strict action against non-compliance has yielded good results and we are hopeful to achieve 50% decline in the cases than the last year.”

He said that a subsidy of ₹ 680 crore has already been paid by the government helping the farmers to buy 79,000 machines for the management of crop waste.

Singh said that now, there is a market for paddy straw and even the government is also contemplating to fix minimum support price for it.

“But we should do more for social mobilisation to change the mindset of farmers,” he added.

24 numberdars suspended in Kaithal

Failing to check farm fires, the Kaithal district administration has ordered suspension of 24 numberdars.

As per the orders, deputy commissioner Sangeeta Tetarwal said that action was taken as the numberdars failed to report cases of farm fires from their respective districts.

Also in Ambala, deputy commissioner Priyanka Soni is said to have asked the agriculture department to impose fine on violators. The DC has instructed that in places where there is higher number of farm fires, the department should deduct a fine from the salary of the concerned officer of the area and if there are three or more cases from a block, a similar penalty should be imposed on the block officer.

(With inputs from Ambala HTC)