Stubble burning in northern states down 63% this year

The incidences of stubble burning has dropped by more than 60 per cent in the last one month, preventing the occurrence of a blanket of toxic smog choking the national capital and its satellite towns, but experts fear that the worst is yet to come.

The Union Environment Ministry on Friday released data showing 1,795 fire counts since September 15 as against 4,854 such instances reported in the corresponding period last year – a drop of 63 per cent.

The maximum decline has been seen in Punjab (69.5 per cent) followed by eight districts of western Uttar Pradesh (47.61 per cent) and Haryana (18.28 per cent). No fire incidences have been seen in Delhi and two Rajasthan districts that are part of the national capital region.

The major hotspots of paddy residue burning in Punjab are Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Patiala and Ludhiana districts that account for 72 per cent of such events. Similarly, the major hotspots in Haryana are Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukshetra, accounting for 80 per cent of the stubble burning.

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The Commission for Air Quality Management is taking up with Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments on a daily basis to ensure strict implementation of the action plan and the framework to curb paddy residue burning events.

However, with a nip in the air and an anticipated rise in paddy harvesting over the next three weeks, the experts are keeping their fingers crossed on the national capital region’s air pollution level over the next one month, even though local winds are keeping the polluting particles away at the moment and likely to do that for the next few days.

Out of 1,795 sites where burning has been reported, 663 fields have been inspected by the enforcement agencies and officials concerned of the respective states. Environmental Compensation (EC) has been imposed in 252 cases.

Harvesting will be at its peak in the next few weeks and the State Governments are taking steps as per the Plan of Action to improve the efficacy of enforcement and implementation to effectively tackle the problem of stubble burning.

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