With 134 cases a day, farm fires on the rise in Haryana

Haryana has witnessed a sudden spike in farm fires in past couple of days as 71% of cases were reported in past four days. The increasing number of farm fires continues to impact air quality of several cities in state

Incidents of farm fires continue to rise in the state with each passing day as the state has reported 134 incidents of stubble burning on Tuesday, taking the total number of farm fires to 464 during the ongoing harvesting season.

Incidents of farm fires continue to rise in Haryana with each passing day as the state has reported 134 incidents of stubble burning on Tuesday, taking the total number of farm fires to 464 during the ongoing harvesting season. (AFP File Photo)

This is the highest-ever single-day count as the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) had reported 86 active fire locations (AFLs) on Monday and 76 AFLs on Sunday. As per the figures, the rise in the farm fires could be reported in all the major paddy-producing districts as a maximum of 125 AFLs have been reported from Kaithal district followed by 96 AFLs in Kurukshetra, 83 in Karnal, 45 in Jind, 34 in Fatehabad, 29 in Ambala and 28 in Yamunanagar.

The state has witnessed a sudden spike in the incidents of farm fires in the past couple of days as 71% of cases were reported in the past four days.

The officials monitoring the farm fires at the ground level have attributed the sudden increase in the farm fires to the recent rainfalls as they said that rains had delayed the harvesting thus shortening the window for the sowing of mustard and wheat.

Hardeep Singh, director general, Haryana agriculture and farmers welfare department, said, “Yes there is a rise in the incidents of the farm fires in the past but recently fresh directions have been issued to the 10 major paddy-producing districts of the state.”

The increasing number of farm fires continues to impact the air quality of several cities of Haryana as the air quality bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Bureau (CPCB) revealed that the air quality index (AQI) of the seven cities continues to remain in the poor category. As per the bulletin, the air quality of seven cities namely Faridabad (258), Gurugram (258), Daruhera (250), Bahadurgarh (235), Manesar (247), Jind (234) and Hisar (206), with the AQI was reported between 200 and 300.

14 numberdars suspended in Kaithal

Taking strict note of the sudden spurt in the incidents of farm fires, the Kaithal deputy commissioner has ordered the suspension of 14 village numberdars for not reporting the incidents of farm fires in their respective villages. As per the information, the suspended numberdars have been identified as Ratan Singh, Sushil, Sultan Singh, Jai Singh, Satish, Zile Singh, Sandeep, Hukam Chand, Hardeep Singh, Kareshni Devi, Jagdish, Nafe Singh, Satpal and Krishan. Deputy commissioner Sangeeta Tetarwal has made it clear that strict action will be taken for non-compliance with directions regarding the burning of crop waste.