Farm fires cross 7,000-mark in Punjab after 400 fresh cases  

Farm fire cases crossed the 7,000-mark in Punjab with the state reporting 418 fresh incidents on Monday.

Meanwhile, the air quality in many parts of Punjab and Haryana remained in the 'poor' category on Monday. However, Chandigarh's Air Quality Index (AQI) was in the 'very poor' zone.

From September 15 till November 11, Punjab has seen a total of 7,029 stubble burning incidents, as per the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

Among the districts, Sangrur on Monday reported 103 farm fires, maximum in the state, followed by 72 in Ferozepur, 46 in Muktsar, 40 in Moga, 37 in Mansa, 29 in Faridkot and 24 in Bathinda, the data showed.

Gurdaspur and SBS Nagar districts witnessed the lowest number of farm fires at one each, as per the data.

Punjab has seen an addition of around 3,000 farm fires since November 3.

The air quality of Chandigarh continued to remain in the 'very poor' category.

Chandigarh recorded an AQI of 331 at 7 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board's Sameer App, which provides hourly updates.

Among places in Haryana, the AQI in Jind was 286, Gurugram (284), Charkhi Dadri (283), Bhiwani (272), Bahadurgarh (271), Sonipat (254), Yamunanagar (237), Panchkula (232) and Rohtak (226).

In Punjab, the AQI was 245 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 222 in Jalandhar, 213 in Amritsar and 203 each in Ludhiana and Patiala.