AQI improves even as farm fires see minor jump
Of the 1,893 stubble burning cases on Thursday, seven districts of southwest Punjab alone witnessed 1,440 farm fires
BATHINDA/PATIALA: Punjab’s air quality index (AQI) improved a bit on Thursday even as the state saw 1,893 stubble burning incidents on Thursday against 1,778 reported a day before.
The state had seen 3,508 and 4,008 active fire incidents on November 10 in 2020 and 2021 respectively, according to the data released by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre.
As the window for rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue. Punjab generates around 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually.
On Thursday, Moga reported 299 such incidents, followed by 239 in Bathinda, 232 in Fereozpur, 206 in Muktsar, 196 in Fazilka, 183 in Faridkot, 147 in Barnala and 118 in Ludhiana, the data stated.
The cumulative farm fire cases from September 15 till November 10 jumped to 36,761, according to the Remote Sensing Centre data. The state had reported 66,362 and 51,417 farm fires during the same period in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The state witnessed improvement in the air quality index (AQI), a day after Khanna and Ludhiana reported an AQI in the severe category.
On Thursday, Mandi Gobindgarh reported an AQI of 362 (very poor), Patiala 278 (poor), Ludhiana 210 (poor) and Amritsar (170) moderate, according to the Central Pollution Control Board data.
An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Southwest Punjab contributes to 40% of farm fire cases
Of the 1,893 stubble burning cases on Thursday, seven districts of southwest Punjab alone witnessed 1,440 farm fires, contributing to 76% of such incidents.
Since the state government started maintaining stubble burning data in 2016, the districts of south Malwa region contribute to about 45% of the total farm fires as a sizeable part of the region has a tradition of growing late-sown varieties of paddy.
Burning of organic waste witnessed a surge in the last few days as the harvesting picked up in the southwest Punjab districts, say officials.
Analysis of the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data reveals that the region recorded 3,776 stubble burning cases since November 1, or an average of 377 farm fires from each of the seven districts per day. Of the 36,761 farm fires this kharif season in the state, these districts reported 14,888 or 40% of the total.
To date, a maximum of 3,383 cases were recorded from Ferozepur this season followed by 2,851 from Bathinda and 2,062 from Moga.