Spike in stubble burning incidents in Punjab

Punjab witnessed over 12,000 incidents of stubble burning in the last five week, which is more than the number of crop burning incidents reported in 2018 and 2019 in the same period, officials said on Saturday.

From April 15 to May 23 this year, 12,574 wheat stubble burning incidents were reported in the state, as per satellite data provided by Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre.

In the corresponding period in 2018 and 2019, 11,110 and 10,357 crop burning incidents were reported respectively, as per the remote sensing data.

On Saturday, 730 wheat straw burning incidents were reported in the state which exceeds the number of burning incidents on the same day in 2018 and 2019 by 117 and 243 incidents.

Moga district at 1,153 reported the most number of wheat stubble burning incidents, followed by Amritsar at 1,099, Bathinda at 1,056 and Ferozepur at 1,039. Mohali at 30 saw the lowest number of burning incidents.

Stubble burning is the intentional setting afire of straw stubble that remains after wheat is harvested. However, it is known to harm the environment and reduce the quality of the soil.