Punjab fails to reduce farm fires as Delhi-NCR air quality plummets

Even as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the Minister for Environment of the Punjab government blame each other for rising air pollution levels, the Union Environment Ministry has issued an alert saying that Air Quality Index (AQI) is likely to plummet further in the national capital region (NCR).

It is in the period between the months of October and November that farmers in Punjab along with those of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh burn paddy stubble to clear their fields for sowing wheat.

The Union Environment Ministry is worried since only a little over 50 percent of the paddy fields in these states were cleared by October 28 due to the late harvest which has already led to haze in the skies in NCR and sharp deterioration in the air quality.

The AQI is likely to deteriorate more in the coming days leading to rise in breathing and allergy-related diseases.

As per the Standard ISRO Protocol, for the period of 15th September 2022 to 28th October 2022, a total of 10,214 paddy residue burning incidents were reported from Punjab compared to 7,648 for the same period during the last year showing an increase of about 33.5%.

The maximum number of stubble-burning incidents have been reported from 7 districts of Punjab including Amritsar, Sangrur, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Patiala, and Tarn Taran.

The Bhagwant Mann government on Monday even placed four officers of the agriculture department under suspension as the areas under their jurisdiction showed a heavy increase in farm fires.

The Punjab government did formulate a comprehensive action plan for controlling air pollution but has not been able to implement iy on the ground.

To control air pollution Punjab had stressed crop diversification, sowing of low straw-generating crops, and early maturing paddy varieties.

The erstwhile Captain Amarinder Singh government in Punjab did receive a central grant of Rs 1347 crore over a period of five years to bridle stubble-burning by providing farmers with specially designed machinery meant to clear fields of stubble and package for sale. The government was supposed to create machinery banks all over the state which existed only on paper. The aim was to earn extra money for the farmer and reduce incidents of farm fires. But most of PM Modi’s grant was gobbled up by the Congress government functionaries. An inquiry is now underway.

On the other hand, Haryana has performed better than Punjab during this paddy harvesting season. Showing improvement for the period between September 15 and October 28 this year only 1, 701 incidents of farm fires have been reported. During the corresponding period last year 2, 252 incidents were reported which was 24.5 percent higher.