Paddy stubble burning picks up in Punjab’s border areas
PATIALA : Stubble burning has picked up pace in Punjab’s border belt of Majha, including Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts, where the harvest of paddy is on in full swing.
This year, crop residue b urning is delayed as paddy harvest was behind schedule due to the late withdrawal of the monsoon.
On October 13, a total of 132 events were captured by the satellite in Punjab. On the same day in 2019, 117 active fire events were captured, while there were 240 active fire events in the state on October 13, 2020.
According to the cumulative figure from September 15 to October 13, a total of 1,057 incidents took place this year, while 3,123 fields on fire were recorded during the corresponding period in 2020.
Of the 132 fire events recorded on Wednesday, Tarn Taran recorded 37 incidents, while
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2020
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Amritsar witnessed 26 farm fires.
“The number of the stubbleburning cases in the current season is less as compared to the previous one. Amritsar being on top in the stubble burning in Punjab does not mean that this district is worst affected. Actually, harvesting started in some of the areas of this district in advance due to Basmati variety of PUSA-1509 which is sown early. If we compare the districts of Punjab at the end of the season, Amritsar won’t top. Last year, it was at 14th place,” said Kujit Singh Saini, chief agriculture officer (CAO) of Amritsar and Tarn Taran.
Officials dither to act “Don’t expect that number of fire incidents to come down. It’s now an annual phenomenon, as in-situ utilisation of paddy straw is expensive, while there are only few takers for paddy straw bales in ex-situ management of the straw. Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest against the new farm laws, no official dare act against farmers. Officials are at the receiving end both from farmers and the government,” said a senior official of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), requesting anonymity.
PPCB experts said that the maximum number of fire incidents are expected from the last week of October till Diwali. The government has appointed 8,000 nodal officers to check stubble burning.
PPCB begins penalising defaulters
In Punjab, setting fire to a field of less than two acres attracts a fine of ₹2,500, while a penalty of ₹5,000 is imposed if the field is between two and five acres. If the field on fire is over five acres, then the fine shoots up to ₹15,000.
“The PPCB has started the process to identify farms where stubble burning has been identified by satellite and fines have been imposed,” said PPCB secretary Krunesh Garg.