Stubble burning incidents are on the rise in Punjab and Haryana, making the national capital an inch closer to more polluted air each day. In Haryana’s Karnal, 58 incidents of stubble burning have been reported this year so far, said the Deputy Director-Agriculture on Tuesday. “We’ve given incentives to farmers for not burning stubble. Complaint registered against 4 people who refused to pay the fine,” he told news agency ANI.
In Punjab alone, over 700 incidents of stubble burning have been recorded so far, state’s Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had earlier said. However, he later said that incidents of stubble burning this year are fewer than previous years. In 2020, there were 5,562 stubble burning incidents, whereas in 2021, 2,389 incidents of stubble burning were reported. “In 2022, only 1,447 stubble burning incidents have been recorded so far, which is very low in comparison,” he told ANI.
Delhi Air Quality deteriorating
For another six days, people can expect no improvement in Delhi’s air quality, forecasting agencies said on Tuesday. For the third consecutive day, the national capital’s air quality was in the “poor” category. Delhi’s 24hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 241 at 4 pm. It was 254 in Ghaziabad, 258 in Faridabad, 216 in Greater Noida, 258 in Gurugram and 242 in Noida, a PTI report stated.
Stubble burning up north in Punjab and Haryana is said to be one of the key factors behind air pollution in Delhi, this time of the year. The Delhi Government has started spraying bio-decomposer on agricultural fields to prevent stubble burning across the city. According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the share of stubble burning in pollutants in Delhi’s air was recorded at 3% on Monday, a TOI report said.
What is stubble burning?
Stubble burning refers to clearing the stalks after paddy has been harvested, and is a widely-used method in India. Farmers of Punjab and Haryana prefer early sown varieties of paddy over the traditional way of sowing paddy using saplings. These varities are sown in June, and hence require less water due to the monsoon season. The stubble is clearing around this time of the year, ahead of Diwali which naturally leads to incidents of stubble burning across both states.
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment