Last year in Punjab, the drop in the fire incidents was 21 per cent compared to 2016, the data shows
Paddy stubble burning incidents in both, Punjab and Haryana, have dipped by 31 per cent since last year between the September 25 and October 31 period, satellite data of the states’ shows. Last year in Punjab, the drop in the fire incidents was 21 per cent compared to 2016, the data shows. Haryana’s stubble burning incidents data from 2016 was not available.
Even as a fortnight of intense stubble burning activity still lies ahead, mostly in districts that see late harvest, officials from both states said that the drop in farm fire incidents indicates positive results of the campaign to provide stubble management machinery to farmers at subsidized rates. “The drop in farm fires is heartening but a crucial phase is still left and we will the state is trying hard to keep a vigil till the harvesting ends,” said JS Bains, Director of Agriculture, Punjab.
In Punjab, the total number of fire incidents for the period September 25 to October 31 in the year 2016, 2017 and 2018 were 32206, 25234 and 17660 respectively. In neighbouring Haryana, during the same period, 6632 incidents were recorded in 2017 and this year, the figure stood at 4589.
The data showed crop residue burning in Punjab were concentrated in Firozpur, Patiala, Muktsar, Tarn Taran and Bathinda and in Haryana there were concentrated in Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Fatehabad and Sirsa.
The remote sensing centres of the northern states begin monitoring and recording active fire incidents from September 25, which is roughly the time when farmers start burning paddy straw left over after harvesting the crops. The month of October sees the maximum stubble burning incidents as farmers prepared fields for wheat sowing. The smoke generated from these fires is one of the major sources contributing to the toxic air pollution in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) during winters.
According to models run by SAFAR, the government’s air quality research and forecasting agency, stubble burning contributed to 12% of PM2.5 pollution in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday and it was as high as 36% on October 25. Delhi’s air quality improved slightly from the severe to very poor category on Wednesday due to upper winds and the air quality index, representative of the entire city, was 358.
This March, the Union Cabinet had approved allotment of Rs.1151.8 crore of central funds (Rs.591.65 crore for 2018-19 and Rs.560.15 crore for 2019-20) for in-situ management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi. The thrust was on providing machinery that could manage stubble and sowing at subsidized rates.
“The drop in stubble burning incidents indicates that the efforts of government are showing positive results. We have 1,000 custom hiring centres in Haryana to make machinery available to farmers,” said RS Hooda, Chief Scientist, Haryana Space Applications Centre.
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According to models run by SAFAR, the government’s air quality research and forecasting agency, stubble burning contributed to 12% of PM2.5 pollution in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday and it was as high as 36% on October 25. Delhi’s air quality improved slightly from the severe to very poor category on Wednesday due to upper winds and the air quality index, representative of the entire city, was 358.
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