Delhi Air Turns Toxic Again After Over 48,000 Cases Of Stubble Burning Reported In Punjab

Farmers in Punjab are uncompromisingly setting stubble or crop residue ablaze, which consequently is responsible for the plummeting air quality in national capital New Delhi.

Punjab government’s Rs 100 per quintal financial assistance to farmers for not setting the crop residue on fire has proved to be unsuccessful in bringing down the stubble-burning incidents.

The number of stubble burning incidents have already crossed the 48,000 mark on November 11.

“The number of such incidents this season is going to surpass last year’s count of 49,000 as over 2,000 cases are being reported on a daily basis,” said a report by The Times of India.

AFP

The report added that last year on November 10, 2,147 cases of stubble burning were recorded in the state, taking the total to 48,155 since September 23, per the data released by Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC).

In 2018, only 40,774 cases were reported till November 10.

On November 11, Sangrur recorded the highest number of stubble burning cases at 178. It was followed by Mansa (162), Bathinda (158), Barnala (131), Muktsar (57), Faridkot (43), Patiala (41), Moga (10), Amritsar (4), Fatehgarh Sahib (3), Tarn Taran (3), Fazilka (3) and Ludhiana (1).

The air quality in Delhi, got better after a long spell of hazardous air following the burning of fire crackers and peak stubble burning season.

Also, the increasing number of farm fires have proved disappointing for authorities who are trying to curb the incidents by offering machinery and monetary benefits to farmers.

AFP

“The high number of farm fires also indicates that the experiment to bring down these numbers by introducing in-situ stubble management machines has failed in the state,” says the TOI report.

Punjab agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu told TOI that farmers are unbending about seeking compensation of Rs 200 per quintal to manage the stubble of their own. The cost of running the stubble management machines definitely prevented them from adopting these techniques in a big way.

FIRs have been registered against the farmers.

BCCL

Government measures, apart from providing monetary compensation, include awareness drives. Despite the efforts, farmers have not adopted alternative means to manage stubble.

In Delhi, air quality worsened to “severe” category on Tuesday with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 413 at 8.30 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

On November 11, most of the 37 air quality monitoring stations in Delhi recorded air quality in the 'severe' category.

Originally published in Times of India