Muktsar, Fazilka record fall of over 3,000 in Punjab stubble burning cases

BATHINDA: As the stubble burning in Punjab is heading towards its end in this season, it crossed the figures of paddy stubble burning in 2018 but it is still short of cases compared to the last year if stubble of wheat and paddy is combined together in a year. However, the heartening news is from two districts in southern Malwa, which recorded the big fall in stubble burning incident this year.

The adjoining districts of Muktsar and Fazilka recorded 3,009 stubble burning (wheat and paddy combined) incidents less than previous year till November 16. According to the stubble burning data compiled by Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Muktsar recorded the biggest fall of 1,930 fire incidents — from 5,381 in 2018 to 3,451 this year — while Fazilka recorded a fall of 1,079 fire incidents — from 2,503 in 2018 to 1,424 this year.

In Sangrur, which is the largest crop residue burning district in the state, 7,810 cases were recorded in 2018. However, the count slipped to 7,448 stubble burning incidents of both wheat and paddy in the ongoing year. At 3,938 incidents, Tarn Taran district recorded the highest jump in wheat and paddy stubble burning cases, up from 3,190 in 2018.

Although 48,805 cases of paddy straw burning incidents till November 16 are way higher that 47,755 recorded in 2018, the sum total of combined (wheat and paddy) figures, 60,503, is still less than of 61,497 recorded the previous year.

The districts which recorded a jump in farm fires include Amritsar, Barnala, Bathinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Patiala, Ropar, Mohali, Nawanshahr and Tarn Taran whereas Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Moga, Muktsar, Pathankot and Sangrur recorded a decline in such incidents when combined between wheat and paddy were calculated.

“Recording more cases of burning paddy stubble despite the Supreme Court announcing bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to those small non basmati growing farmers is a bad news. The trend needs to be tackled effectively from the next year,” said a senior officer of the state agriculture department.

However, Muktsar deputy commissioner M K Aravind Kumar told TOI, “We recorded a big fall as we provided stubble management machines to all those who applied and we had the advantage of two biomass plants in the districts as we asked them to collect stubble from the villages. Besides, we also took up micro management of stubble.”

18-yr-old girl collects paddy straw for livestock

Muktsar: Sandeep Kaur, a young girl from Lande Rode village in Muktsar district, has been collecting paddy straw to feed the livestock. She has stored stubble generated from six acre family farm with the help of her father Gurtek Singh. A Class XII (medical) student at Government Senior Secondary School in Muktsar, Sandeep, 18, also helps out the family with farm chores. She plans to use the paddy straw to feed the livestock over the next year by mixing it with green fodder. The family will also use it as bedding for the cattle in winter to keep away the cold. “We are facing big environmental problem due to high level of pollution. Stubble burning is also one of the major threats to our ecosystem. Farmers need not burn the crop residue, rather they should use it as fodder by mixing it with routine animal feed,” she said.