Farm fires rage, record 587 cases in a day

The first day of the month saw 587 incidents of farm fire in the state, the highest in a single day so far.

As the region was celebrating Diwali on Friday, the bursting of crackers added to the pollution and a dangerous cocktail of smoke further deteriorating the air quality. With AQI touching 352, the air quality of the holy city, Amritsar, turned ‘very poor’.

An expert from the Punjab Pollution Control Board said the number of farm fire cases was likely to rise in the coming days as the crucial window period — November 1 to 15 — for wheat sowing began today. In order to clear their fields for wheat, farmers may set the residue of the previous crop afire.

Air quality ‘very poor’ in Amritsar

• The air quality index (AQI) of Amritsar, which was 160 at 8 pm on October 31, fell in the ‘very poor’ category and stood at 352 in the afternoon on November 1. Bathinda breathed better with 109 points.
• The AQI of Mandi Gobindgarh (264), Ludhiana (206), Jalandhar (227), Patiala (247), fell in the ‘poor’ category when the cracker burning began at 8 pm on October 31 and continued to remain the same the next day.

The tardy procurement of paddy crop is also being blamed for the rise in stubble burning. Due to sluggish pace of paddy procurement, farmers delayed harvesting their crop till the last week of October. As the wheat sowing season has begun, the farmers are burning the fresh paddy residue containing high moisture-level.

Of the 3,537 incidents reported from the state so far, 1,071 surfaced in the past two days. As many as 484 incidents of residue burning were reported on Thursday.

Sangrur topped the state for the second consecutive day with 79 incidents of farm fire, while 70 incidents were registered in Ferozepur, followed by 59 in Tarn Taran, 47 in Mansa, 43 in Kapurthala and 40 each in Patiala and Amritsar.

Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman Adarshpal Singh Vig said the first fortnight was considered crucial for sowing of wheat seed. He said the department officials had been instructed to encourage farmers for in situ and ex situ management of paddy residue.

The uptick in farm fires was first witnessed in the second week of October when the state witnessed 177 cases on October 12, followed by 173 on October 15 and 163 on October 13. Besides, 219 incidents of residue burning were reported on October 29 and 110 on October 30.

The spike in stubble burning was witnessed as the police and other enforcement agencies were either on holiday or were busy maintaining law and order in view of Diwali.