Punjab records nearly half of all farm fires in 3 days

According to Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) has recorded 17,921 fires in 48 days — from September 16 to November 2 in the state out of which 7,692 fires were recorded from October 31 to November 2.

The beginning of the wheat sowing season in Punjab, which officially started from November 1, witnessed a major jump in the stubble burning cases, recording 7,692 farm fires, which make for nearly 43 per cent of the total such incidents recorded in the state. This comes even as the Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) reported that incidents of stubble burning have come down by over 51 per cent this season so far compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) has recorded 17,921 fires in 48 days — from September 16 to November 2 in the state out of which 7,692 fires were recorded from October 31 to November 2.

On November 2, a total of 3,001 farm fires were recorded as against 1,796 and 2,895 such incidents on November 1 and October 31, respectively.

Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts remain at the top recording a total of 2,592 and 1,320 stubble fires, respectively. In these districts, farm fires had started in the month of September only. The spike over last three days have been reported from other districts too. Ferozepur recorded the maximum farm fires in these three days — 955 out of total 1,741 till November 2 — followed by Sangrur which reported 680 fires (out of total 1,028). Barnala witnessed 549 farm fires out of 847 recorded till date.

Apart from this Patiala, Ludhiana, Muktsar Sahib, Faridkot, Bathinda and Moga also witnessed 509, 493, 490, 483, 482 and 402 fires, respectively in this period, translating into 38 per cent to 66 per cent of the total farm fires in these districts till date.

Till October 27, over 4 lakh hectares (close to 10 lakh acres) had witnessed stubble burning. Amritsar burnt the stubble on 76,570 hectares followed by Tarn Taran (69,690 hectares). Gurdaspur has burnt stubble on 36,360 hectares, Kapurthala on 27,260 hectares, Patiala on 26,230 hectares, and Fatehgarh Sahib on 25,890 hectares. In Ludhiana stubble was burnt on 25,360 hectares, and in Jalandhar on 24,850 hectares till October 27th.

Meanwhile, according to the Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management, enforcement agencies have inspected 8,575 sites in Punjab, Haryana and NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh and an environmental compensation of around Rs 58 lakh has been imposed for crop residue burning.

“Paddy residue burning events in Punjab, Haryana, NCR districts of UP and Rajasthan and Delhi have come down from 43,918 in 2020 to 21,364 in 2021 during the period from September 15 to November 2,” it said in a statement.

The reduction in fire counts is 51.35 per cent in the current year compared to the corresponding period last year.

Between October 27 and November 2 this year, only 12,853 farm fires have been recorded as against 23,628 cases in the corresponding period of 2020 — a reduction of 10,775 cases (45.6 per cent).

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