Punjab witness spurt in wheat stubble burning incidents

Punjab has witnessed a spurt in wheat stubble burning incidents with the number of fire incidents surpassing 11,000 during April 15 to May 22 period, officials said on Friday.

According to satellite data provided by Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, 11,844 wheat stubble burning incidents have been reported in the state.

The figure of fire incidents in the corresponding period of 2018 and 2019 was 10,993 and 10,114 respectively, the data showed.

The state on Friday reported 431 wheat straw burning incidents which was also in excess of 98 and 330 incidents reported on the same day in 2018 and 2019 respectively, according to the data.

The number of fire incidents continued to rise despite the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh this month had appealed farmers to desist from stubble burning.

The chief minister in his appeal this month had asked farmers not to burn wheat stubble.

"It is a respiratory disease and stubble burning will affect recovery of COVID patients. It will even affect lungs of children making them prone to the infection," Chief Minister had then said in his message.