Farm fires in Punjab, Hry: Delhi may get the choke soon
NEWDELHI/CHANDIGARH: Hundreds of instances of farm fires have been recorded in Punjab and Haryana, forcing officials in the national capital as well as in the adjoining states to consider measures such as staggered office timings and impounding of old harvesting machines in a bid to stave off an air quality crisis that has become an annual phenomenon in the region.
The first of the farm fires come less than a week after the Punjab and Haryana high court ruled that the two states cannot fine farmers for burning crop residue, a practice that is common in the autumn season when fields need to be quickly cleared of summer harvests to make way for winter crop sowing.
At least 148 incidents of stubble burning were reported in Punjab in just three days as the first phase of harvesting of paddy, primarily of the basmati varieties, started in the state.
The Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Ludhiana, which began monitoring farm fires from Monday onwards on the direction of the state agriculture department, detected 55, 62, and 31 such incidents on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Of these, Amritsar alone saw 96 such fires, the highest among all districts, followed by Taran Tarn (29). A couple of cases each were detected in Kapurthala, SAS Nagar, Sangrur and Moga among other districts.
The pollution control agency of Haryana said even though no crop burning incidents have been detected on-ground, satellite data has shown ‘red dots’ in some areas of the state. “We have seen the red dots and have activated our field teams to ascertain if those are farm fires. We plan to start satellite monitoring of fields from October 1,” S Narayanan, member secretary, HPCB.
“Discussed measures to reduce air pollution and congestion in Delhi. Requested to explore amongst other measures, option of staggered opening/closing hours of offices and other establishments to reduce congestion and resultant air pollution,” Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal said in a tweet on Wednesday after a meeting with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to discuss plans to tackle pollution.
“Delhi will be facing a challenge to maintain its air quality due to crop stubble burning from neighbouring states and bursting of firecrackers during Diwali. Delhi has taken several steps to reduce pollution during this time including the odd-even scheme. The government will definitely implement his suggestion on staggered working hours,” Kejriwal said in a tweet later.
The Odd-Even rule, which allows cars with odd or even number plates to be driven only on alternating days, will be in force between November 4 and 15.
Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) on Wednesday was a “satisfactory” 90, but officials warned that this may change soon if wind patterns – at present blowing in from the east – were to flip and sweep in the smoke from the farm fires.