Smoke rises from Punjab: In 3 days, 150% jump in farm fires

The state is likely to see a spurt in stubble burning incidents in the coming days as paddy in around 10 lakh hectares is yet to be harvested even as farmers have started sowing wheat. This year, farmers in Punjab had sown paddy on 31.93 lakh hectares — the highest in its recorded history.

Following floods in July, farmers had replanted saplings in 85,000 hectares. This combined with inclement weather in October delayed the harvesting, which is likely to pick pace in the coming days. Also, with not much time left to prepare farms for wheat — the ideal sowing period being

Smoke rises from Punjab: in 3 days, 150% jump in farm fires

November 1 to 15 — farmers are likely to take the easy way out and put stubble to fire instead of managing it.
The recent spike in farm fires pushed the Air Quality Index (AQI) in some cities of Punjab into the ‘very poor’ category, a notch down from Thursday’s ‘poor’ even as the air quality in Delhi and some cities in neighbouring Haryana remained in the ‘severe’ category for the second day.

An AQI between 401-500 is considered ‘severe’, followed by ‘very poor’ (301-400), ‘poor’ (201-300), ‘moderate (101-200), ‘satisfactory’ (51-100), and ‘good’ (0-50).

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Bathinda saw the worst air in Punjab on Friday with AQI of 338 (very poor), followed by Mandi Gobindgarh at 277, Jalandhar at 268, Khanna at 249, Amritsar at 248, Patiala at 243, and Ludhiana at 228 (all in poor category).

In neighbouring Haryana, most cities remained in severe category of the AQI scale with Faridabad at 460, Hisar at 456, Sonipat at 455, Jind at 447, Fatehabad at 432, Rohtak at 424, and Bagadurgarh at 404. Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded a moderate AQI of 189.

The neighbouring New Delhi recorded an AQI of 475 (severe).

In Delhi, Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena held a high level meeting where it was decision to appeal neighbouring states, particularly Punjab, to check paddy stubble burning. As Delhi continues to breathe dirt air, BJP has blamed stubble burning in Punjab as the reason for the plight of the people in the national capital.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, however, claimed that action against pollution was taken by the state governments in Delhi and Punjab, but the BJP governments in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre were asleep.

In 2022, several cities in Punjab had remained in the poor and very poor categories on November 3. According to CPCB data, only Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana had recorded very poor air at 391 and 319 AQI, respectively on November 3 last year. Patiala, Bathinda, Amritsar, and Jalandhar had registered poor air quality at 276, 248, 226, and 216, respectively. Last year, however, Chandigarh was in the poor category with 205 on the AQI scale.

This year, Sangrur has seen the highest number of farm fires at 1,907, including 305 on Friday, against 3,173 incidents last year in the corresponding period. Tarn Taran recorded 1,469 fires, including 163 on Friday, compared to 2,847 last year. Similarly, Ferozepur registered 1,391 fires, including 216 on Friday, against 1,927 last year and Amritsar recorded 1,358 fires, including 48 on Friday, against 1,418 last year.

Patiala recorded 1,043 fires to date this year, including 99 on Friday, against 2,537 on the same date last year. Pathankot recorded only one fire to date, compared to zero last year.

Even with the air quality deteriorating with each passing day, Punjab has so far this year registered a significant decline in stubble burning cases. Against 24,146 farm fires last year from September 15 to November 3, the state saw 12,813 such cases in the same period this year, which is a decrease of almost 47%.