Paddy harvesting shifts to Malwa, so do farm fires

As paddy harvesting moves from the Majha region to west and south Malwa, the spread of farm fires in the state, too, follows suit.

Authorities go soft on violators

• As farmers protest across Punjab putting the AAP government in the state and BJP at the Centre on the mat, little action is being taken against erring farmers for setting the crop stubble on fire
• Till October 26, environment compensation of Rs 16.55 lakh was imposed in 615 cases and Rs 14.35 lakh was recovered. Red entries — which the farmers dread and oppose vehemently — have been made in just 604 cases, while 1,420 cases under Section 39 of the Air Act and Section 223 of the BNS have been registered

The Malwa region generally accounts for over 80 per cent of farm fire incidents every year. This year, with paddy harvesting delayed because of initial hiccups in procurement, the incidence of farm fires from Malwa is less. To date, only 56 percent of paddy has been harvested and reached the mandis. According to the latest data, 69.63 LMT of paddy has arrived in the mandis of the total expected 125 LMT.

Satellite images of the state reveals that though the number of hotspots in Majha today remained almost similar as on October 1, the number of incidents were drastically reduced. While there were hardly any farm fire hotspots in the Malwa region on October 1, as on date, the maximum number of hotspots are in Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sangrur and Patiala.

Of the 142 incidents of farm fires in the state today, maximum incidents were reported from Sangrur (19), Patiala (16), Ferozepur and Tarn Taran (14 each). Comparatively, Amritsar and Gurdaspur have reported nine and seven incidents, respectively. This is mainly because the Majha region is a basmati belt, and harvesting of early maturing varieties of basmati got over earlier this month, and this is when the farm fire incidents first peaked in the Majha region.

Though the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state initially made big plans for the in situ and ex situ management of stubble, farmers say the delay in paddy harvesting, because of the tardy procurement till last week, will leave them with little window for sowing the wheat crop. The wheat sowing has to be completed before November 15, for seeds to germinate and for crop to give high yield on maturing.

With just four days to go for the wheat sowing to begin, the fields have to be cleared of paddy crop and later its stubble. Thus, it is expected that the number of these incidents will only go up in the coming weeks.