Punjab: Stubble Burning Continues to Rage Despite SC’s Rap; Over 2K Farm Fires Reported in 24 Hrs – News18

As Delhi continues to choke with the air quality index (AQI) in the severe category, farmers in Punjab continue to defy the Supreme Court’s directions, with over 2,000 farm fires reported from the agrarian state on Wednesday. Of these, most incidents of stubble burning were reported in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s birthplace Sangrur.

This happened despite the apex court’s directions to Punjab to ensure the stopping of crop residue burning “forthwith” in view of the national capital turning into a gas chamber, with AQI figures in most affected areas constantly being over the 450-mark and in some cases, above 500, posing serious health issues.

Many parts of Haryana are also witnessing air quality indices in the ‘severe’ and ‘very poor’ categories.

Stubble Burning in Punjab and Haryana

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana has been identified as one of the major reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. As the window for wheat — a key Rabi crop — is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing of the next crop.

Punjab has reported a total of 22,981 stubble-burning incidents till now, with 2,003 fresh such cases being reported on Wednesday, according to Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

Out of the 2,003 stubble burning incidents, Sangrur continued to top with 466 such cases, followed by 221 in Bathinda, 216 in Barnala, 150 in Faridkot, 131 in Mansa, 106 in Patiala, 103 in Ferozepur and 96 in Ludhiana, according to the data.

The state continues to report maximum number of farm fire incidents despite Supreme Court’s directions to the state administration to put a curb on it. Images obtained through NASA imagery stand a proof of it.

SC Order

Amid a spike in pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday directed Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to ensure crop residue burning was stopped “forthwith”, saying it cannot let “people die” due to pollution.

The apex court bench also made the local station house officer (SHO) concerned, under the overall supervision of the chief secretary, responsible for stopping crop residue burning.  The next hearing in the case is on Friday.

Following the top court’s direction, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav on Wednesday asked the police officers to work in tandem with the civil administration to prevent stubble burning in the state. The DGP also appointed Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla as the police nodal officer to monitor action against stubble burning, according to an order.

Stubble Burning Incidents To Go Down?

Despite this, the results were not evident on the ground with AQI reading in Delhi at 4 pm on Wednesday reading 426.

As per Punjab agriculture director Jaswant Singh, the number of farm fires are expected to come down from Thursday as the civil administration and police chiefs of all the districts have been asked to implement the action plan to stop the farm fires, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

As per the report, throughout this kharif season, Punjab police has booked 14 farmers under Section 39 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, and 18 cases have been filed under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Meanwhile, Adarshpal Vig, Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has claimed that there has been a drop of 31 per cent in fire incidents compared to last year.

(With PTI Inputs)