Crop burning

Even preventive exercises by various agencies, such as the Environment Pollution [Prevention and Control] Authority (EPCA), have come to naught.

The Haryana PCB launched satellite monitoring activities to detect crop-burning cases with the aid of the Haryana Space Applications Centre on September 22, and is believed to have already collected penalties amounting to ₹5,000 from offending farmers.

Punjab PCB officials, for their part, have written to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre to launch satellite monitoring from October 1. “No such incident has come to our notice yet. Crop burning is expected to start from the first week of October,” said a senior official with the board.

Meanwhile, red dots have already begun appearing on Nasa’s FIRM web fire mapper, which uses satellite imagery to identify fires on the ground. Officials in Punjab and Haryana, however, claimed that not all red dots imply crop-burning cases.

The EPCA is also pulling out all stops to ensure that the cropburning situation does not go out of hand. “This year, we directed the pollution control boards of all NCR states to form patrol teams meant for visiting vulnerable areas and flagging violations,” said an agency member.

Though a recent National Thermal Power Corporation proposal to purchase agricultural residue from farmers had raised hopes of a less-polluted winter this year, authorities are doubtful if a business module can be developed in the few days that remain before crop-burning incidents start again.

In a desperate attempt, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh recently sought from the Centre a bonus of ₹100 per quintal on paddy as an incentive to dissuade farmers from burning crop stubble. Sources said Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is also taking a special interest in ending the practice. ment victim, a hosteller at BHU, had lodged the complaint with Singh. She was allegedly molested by men on motorcycles on Thursday.

The students accused the proctor of not taking the complaint seriously. They were more upset when vice chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi blamed the student for staying out late.

Tripathi too is under pressure to resign as a report by the Varanasi divisional commissioner blamed the university administration for the campus violence.