Punjab records 2,131 incidents of farm fires, highest so far this season

In a major spike in stubble burning incidents, Punjab on Monday reported 2,131 farm fires, the highest so far this season, with Sangrur accounting for 330.

With the fresh incidents of stubble burning, the cumulative farm fire cases between September 15 and October 31 reached 16,004, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

During the same period in 2020 and 2021, the state had recorded 29,615 and 13,124 stubble burning incidents, respectively.

Of the total 2,131 stubble burning incidents on Monday, Sangrur witnessed the highest number of cases at 330, followed by 250 in Ferozepur, 202 in Patiala, 178 in Bathinda, 174 in Tarn Taran, 126 in Barnala, 123 in Mansa and 112 in Jalandhar.

Despite a massive awareness exercise by the state government to dissuade farmers from setting crop residue on fire, the growers continue to burn paddy straw to clear their fields for sowing the next crop -- wheat and vegetables.

Punjab Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua took stock of the incidents of stubble burning with secretary in-charges of various districts.

Janjua instructed the secretary in-charges to determine the responsibility of 'nambardars' (revenue record keepers in villages) to prevent paddy stubble burning incidents, saying that they should be tasked with sensitising farmers against burning crop residue.

Accountability of the 'nambardars' should be fixed if any fire incidents take place in their concerned villages, the chief secretary said in an official release here.

He also directed the officials to pay more attention during the next few days to prevent incidents of stubble burning and control farm fires.

"There should be more focus on hotspots of stubble burning and the administration should be more vigilant in the villages, where cases of fire have been reported in the last few years," Janjua said.

Expressing concern over the difference in the number of stubble burning incidents detected through physical and satellite verification, he asked the officials to focus on areas captured by optical satellite data analysis by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC).

He said that stubble burning on government land on lease will not be tolerated at any cost.

Janjua lauded the Gurdaspur district administration for utilising fire tenders to douse farm fires and instructed all deputy commissioners to rope in fire tenders in their respective districts for the job.

Taking stock of the in-situ and ex-situ management of crop residue, the CS directed the officials to explore the possibility of setting up paddy straw bale plants at the cluster level in villages, adding that this will help in immediate management of stubble.

He also said that the deputy commissioners should specially honour such farmers at the district level who shun the practice of stubble burning.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November.

As the window for sowing rabi crop wheat after paddy harvest is very short, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue.

Punjab generates around 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually.

The state recorded 71,304 farm fires in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019, 50,590 in 2018, 45,384 in 2017 and 81,042 in 2016.