Stubble burning ends: Punjab burnt 50.94% of its total rice area, only 1.4% less than 2021

According to PRSC, which records both stubble burning incidents and burnt area, the state has recorded stubble burning on around 15,42,750 hectares this year out of a total of 30,28,520 hectares, that is, it has burnt 50.94% area. Last year, the state burnt 15,64,470 hectares out of a total of 29,68,780 hectares, that is, the burning had taken place on 52.69% of the total rice area then. Nearly 21,720 hectares (1.4%) less area was burnt this year as compared to last year.

Last year, the state had 90,422 stubble management machines, while this year it had 1,05,000 machines, which were 16.12% more than the last year. The state was supposed to distribute 32,000 new machines this year out of which nearly 15,000 had already been distributed during this paddy harvesting season in the past two months while the remaining have been sanctioned and are reaching farmers.

Ten districts had recorded more stubble burning this year than last year. Sangrur was one among them. It had burnt stubble on 73% of its total rice area, that is, it had burnt stubble on around 1.55 lakh hectares out of a total of 2.12 lakh hectares of rice area. This year Sangrur had burnt just 10.6% more area than last year wherein stubble was burnt on 1.40 lakh hectares only.

Nine other districts that recorded more stubble burning this year include Firozepur which burnt stubble on 69% of its rice area, Faridkot burnt 66% area, Fatehgarh Sahib burnt 62.7% area, Muktsar Sahib burnt 61% area, Bathinda burnt 59% area, Mansa burnt 58.8% area, Moga burnt 56.4% area, Fazilka burnt 45% area, while Mohali burnt 12.6% of its rice area.

While 13 districts recorded less stubble burning this year compared to last year, they burnt stubble in the range of 10% to 48% of their total rice area.

This year Bathinda had recorded a 40.41% increase in the burnt area compared to last year. The district recorded stubble burning on 1,03,028 hectares compared to 74,780 hectares last year; Faridkot recorded stubble burning on 74,460 hectares against 67,850 hectares last year, which is 9.74% more; Fatehgarh Sahib saw 54,670 hectares burnt area against 42,820 hectares last year, which is 27.67% more; Fazilka recorded 57,300 hectares against 37,002 hectares last year, which is 54.85% more; Firozepur recorded burning on 1,15,890 hectares against 1,10,610 hectares last year, which is 4.77% more; Mansa saw burning on 71,080 hectares against 51,950 hectares last year, which is 36.82% more; Moga reported burning on 94,470 hectares against 88,640 hectares last year, which is 6.57% more; Muktsar observed burning on 1,02,230 hectares against 67,430 hectares last year, which is 51.6% more; and Mohali recorded burning on 8,410 hectares against 6,750 hectares last year, which is 24.59% more.

Though 13 districts had witnessed a decrease in the burnt area, the maximum decrease could be seen in half-a-dozen districts which include Gurdaspur (33% decrease), Amritsar (22% decrease), Tarn Taran (20.7% decrease), and Pathankot (34.5% decrease) – all fall in Majha region – while Jalandhar (23.8% decrease), Kapurthala (29.8% decrease), Nawanshahr (37.9% decrease), Hoshiarpur (39% decrease) – all fall under Doaba region.

Also, Rup Nagar and Patiala districts witnessed a considerable decrease in the burnt area which is 39.8% and 17.75%, respectively. Meanwhile, 49,922 stubble burning incidents were recorded in the state this year compared to 71,159 farm fire cases last year till November 30, which is around 30% less than last year. This year Sangrur recorded 5,239 farm fire incidents compared to 8,001 last year, but the same district has recorded 10.6% more burnt area.

Pathankot recorded just one farm fire case this year, as per the PRSC records.

The PPCB had imposed Rs 1.67 crore environmental compensation (fine) in 6,511 farm fire cases till November 20, while the compensation was yet to be imposed on 3,791 cases.