Chandigarh:Punjab witnessed 8,147 stubble-burning incidents from September 15 till October 27, registering a 20-per cent rise over the number of farm fires in the corresponding period last year. The state saw 1,111 crop residue-burning incidents on Thursday, with Tarn Taran, Sangrur and Patiala accounting for 40 per cent of those.
From September 15 to October 27, Punjab reported 8,147 farm fire incidents, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. During the same period in 2021, a total of 6,742 stubble-burning incidents were reported, according to the centre's data. The number of such incidents in the said period in 2020 was 18,657. The data also showed that about 67 per cent of such incidents were reported over the last seven days.
Of the 1,111 crop residue-burning incidents reported on Thursday, Tarn Taran recorded the highest number of 178, followed by 139 in Sangrur, 134 in Patiala, 74 in Ferozepur, 67 in Fatehgarh Sahib, 65 in Kapurthala and 64 in Ludhiana, according to the data. Pathankot reported no case of stubble burning, while Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Rupnagar districts saw four and seven such incidents respectively.
Despite the state government running a massive awareness programme, farmers continue to burn the crop residue. Crop harvesting got delayed this season because of untimely rains in September. Punjab had around 30.84 lakh hectares of paddy area under this Kharif season. Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in the air pollution levels in Delhi in October-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 farm 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. (PTI)
