The burning of paddy crop residue continued in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as satellite images detected 711 incidents, the highest in a single day this year, on October 14.
The images showed 616 in Punjab, 87 in Haryana and 08 in Uttar Pradesh. This year, 4015 incidents were detected in three states between October 1 and 15 as compared to the 2119 incidents in 2019 and 2151 in 2018. The highest incidents have been reported in Punjab (3029), followed by Haryana (737) and UP (249). As per data, Haryana and UP have recorded less incidents of farm fires as compared to the last year.
Flagging off 50 inspection teams of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for field visits to keep a watch on pollution hot spots, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said that only 4 per cent pollution is due to stubble burning and 96 percent of it is due to local factors like biomass burning, garbage dumping, unpaved roads, dust, construction and demolition activities.
“I appeal to the Punjab government to swing into action and curb stubble burning. I went to attend a programme in Ludhiana last year. On my way back, my throat choked due to the smoke from stubble burning even when I was in an air-conditioned car,” the minister said.
The data showed that 247 incidents were detected on October 13; 362 on October 12; 333 on October 11; 238 on October 10; 310 on October 9 and 126 on October 9. , The incidents of farm fires were recorded 856 in 2019; 774 in 2018; 2731 in 2017 and 4339 in 2016 during the same period (between October 1 and 14) in the State. Majority of farm fires cases are reported in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Patiala, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur districts.
With 779 farm fire incidents, Amritsar district ranks on the top, closely followed by Tarn Taran (743 incidents), Patiala (322 incidents) and Gurdaspur (208 incidents), (Ferozpur 195) districts, as of October 12, 2020.
The satellite images showed 737 incidents in Haryana and majority of them from Kurukshetra, Karnal, Fatehabad, Yamunanagar, Sirsa, Sonipat, Hisar and Ambala regions. The farm fire incidents are less this year as compared to the last year of 992 in 2019; 965 in 2018; 1647 in 2017 and 2074 in 2016. With 164, Kurukshetra is top in the list, followed by Karnal (154 incidents), Ambala (110 incidents), Kaithal (99), Jind ( 43 incidents) and Fatehabad (58 incidents) so far.
