Haryana cites NASA data, says fires raging in Punjab
CHANDIGARH: Citing data of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Haryana government on Friday said that the images of the American space agency clearly indicates that farm fire cases are increasing in Punjab, while they have decreased in Haryana due to its stubble management programme.
“The recent satellite images of stubble burning incidents in northern India issued by NASA clearly show that in the last 24 hours, the farm fire incidents in Haryana have come down even further, while the live images of stubble burning can be seen in three-fourth area of neighbouring Punjab,” the government said in a release.
An official spokesperson said
FIELDS ON FIRE
concrete steps taken by Haryana government to curb stubble burning were reflected in the NASA report that has shown a steep decline in farm fire incidents in Haryana.
The data released for the last 24 hours reported very few incidents of stubble burning.
“This clearly highlights the fact that Haryana government’s stubble management programme has been a success,” the spokesperson said, adding the state government’s data also shows that the incidents of stubble burning in Haryana have come down by 25% this year, while in Punjab these incidents
have increased by 20%.
Haryana witnesses
152 stubble fires
KARNAL: Haryana on Friday witnessed a sharp rise in the incidents of stubble burning, with 152 fresh farm fires registered, an over four-fold spike in the number of cases clocked a day before. With this, the total number of stubble burning cases in the state has risen to 2,880.
This is the first time since November 3 when the state has reported over 100 incidents of stubble burning. The number of farm fires was 35 on Thursday.
As per the data of the Haryana
Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), the highest 52 incidents were reported in Fatehabad district, followed by 34 in Jind, 15 in Sirsa, 11 each in Panipat and Kaithal, 7 in Hisar, 5 each in Sonepat and Karnal, 4 in Ambala, 3 in Yamunanagar, 1 each in Kurukshetra and Rohtak.
Officials say Haryana has managed to curb farm fires due to its stubble management programme
Air quality
The air quality of most of the cities in Haryana hovered between ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ categories. According to the air quality bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Bureau (CPCB), Jind had the worst air quality in the state with the AQI touching 371 and categorised as ‘very poor’. Also, several other cities, including Gurugram (353), Hisar (314), Charkhi Dadri (314), Sirsa (314), Dharuhera (306), Faridabad (304) and Yamunanagar (304) had “very poor” AQI. The air quality of Bahadurgarh (296), Bhiwani (295), Kurukshetra (287), Rohtak (285), Kaithal (284), Karnal (281), Ballabgarh (277), Sonipat (367), Manesar (225), Narnaul (251), Panipat (211), was categorised ‘poor’.