Punjab records highest Stubble-burning cases this season; 1,238 farm-fires on Oct 26

Representational Image (Credits: ANI)

Chandigarh: Punjab on Wednesday witnessed 1,238 farm fire incidents, the highest number of crop residue burning cases so far this season. With paddy growers continuing stubble burning, Tarn Taran topped the districts in Punjab with a maximum number of farm fire incidents. The northern state recorded 1,238 farm fire incidents on Wednesday, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. On October 24, the state saw 1,019 such incidents. The state had witnessed 2,047 farm fire incidents on October 26 in 2020 and 329 such incidents on the same day in 2021, the data said.

Farm fire incidents are on the rise as crop harvesting has picked up in the state. The total number of stubble-burning incidents reached 7,036 from September 15 till October 26 this year. Punjab, till October 26, had reported 16,518 and 6,463 farm fire incidents in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Crop harvesting got delayed by at least 10 days because of untimely rains in September. Punjab had around 30.84 lakh hectares of paddy area during this Kharif season. Tarn Taran district is topping the list of stubble-burning incidents as it recorded 210 such incidents on Wednesday, followed by 183 in Patiala, 126 in Sangrur, 116 in Ferozepur and 90 in Kapurthala.

Pathankot is the only district in the state which has not seen a single stubble-burning incident so far this season. Farm fires continue despite the state government assuring more crop residue management machines and launching massive awareness programmes against stubble burning.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital 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 the crop residue. Punjab generates around 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually. The state recorded 71,304 such fire incidents in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019, 50,590 in 2018, 45,384 in 2017 and 81,042 in 2016.