Stubble Burning Continues In Punjab, 700 Fires Recorded So Far

Punjab has recorded more than 700 farm fires since September 15 despite the state authorities making several efforts to curb stubble burning.

According to data from the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, the state witnessed four farm fire incidents -- two in Amritsar and one each in Ludhiana and Kapurthala -- today.

From September 15 till October 10, 2022, a total of 718 farm fires were recorded, according to the data. During the same period in 2020 and 2021, the state had witnessed 244 and 150 farm fires, respectively.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in Delhi 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 crop residue. Punjab generates around 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually.

Farm fires have continued in Punjab despite the state government assuring more crop residue management machines and launching massive awareness programmes against stubble burning.

Stubble burning incidents are expected to rise in the coming days as paddy harvesting got delayed by at least ten days due to rains last month.

A few days ago, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had even held meetings with various farmer bodies and told them that his government was making an all-out effort for paddy stubble management and had urged the farmers to support it for protecting the environment.

Mr Mann had also said that a total of 1.22 lakh crop residue management machines had been made available for farmers in the current season. A mobile app had also been developed whereby farmers could come to know about the availability of machines for the management of paddy straw within a radius of two-three kilometres.

However, farmers have been demanding Rs 6,000 per acre for stubble management.

The state recorded 71,304 such fire incidents 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 number of stubble-burning incidents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)