Stubble burning cases cross 120 mark, AQI in city at 315
Aparna Banerji
Tribune New Service
Jalandhar, October 28
The total number of farm fires in Jalandhar and Kapurthala crossed the 120 mark today. As many as 126 farm fires have been reported in Jalandhar and Kapurthala during the current paddy harvest season. Of these, 27 farm fires have been reported in Jalandhar while 99 were reported in Kapurthala. Today alone, 16 farm fires were reported (13 in Kapurthala and 3 in Jalandhar) while yesterday, six cases of farm fire were reported in the two districts (four at Kapurthala and two in Jalandhar).
Of the 13 farm fires reported in Kapurthala today, majority were from Sultanpur Lodhi (5) while three each were reported in Kapurthala and Nadala blocks and two at Dhilwan.
Meanwhile, in Jalandhar, as many as 15 FIRs have been filed against farmers involved in stubble burning by the Jalandhar rural police. A majority of these FIRs are in the Shahkot and Lohian areas. In Kapurthala, two FIRs have so far been registered in cases of stubble burning.
Chief Agriculture Officer, Kapurthala, Balbir Chand said, “50 per cent of the harvest at Kapurthala is already over and the stubble fires have been considerably less than in previous years. While 13 stubble fires were witnessed in Kapurthala today, there were four last evening.”
Meanwhile, with chill setting in along with an overall hike in cases of stubble burning as well as pre-Diwali vehicular pollution in the state, Jalandhar’s AQI continued to be very poor today as well. The maximum AQI at Jalandhar on Monday (October 28) was 315. Average AQI also saw an increase at 198 while minimum AQI was 78.
Thursday night in Jalandhar was among the most polluted nights this autumn when the city registered an Air Quality Index of 314 to 318 late in the night. On Friday too, maximum AQI was recorded at 314 and on Saturday, slightly better at 304. On Sunday too, the maximum AQI was very poor, at 311. The average AQI on Sunday was 174 and minimum was 79.
